PRACTICAL 
HOME  FURNISHINGS 

By 

LUCY  DAVIS  TAYLOR 
RUTH  APPLETON  PERKINS 


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PRACTICAL 
HOME  FURNISHINGS 


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PRACTICAL 
HOME  FURNISHINGS 


LUCY  DAVIS  TAYLOR 

formerly 

Head,  Teachers’  Training  Department 

MASSACHUSETTS  NORMAL  ART  SCHOOL 

and, 

RUTH  APPLETON  PERKINS 
Supervisor  of  Drawing 

MEDFORD,  MASS. 


Book  One 


Published  by 

EDUCATIONAL  DEPARTMENT 

ALLIED  WALL-PAPER  INDUSTRY 
132  WEST  42nd  ST.,  NEW  YORK  CITY 


Copyright  by  Lucy  Davis  Taylor 


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Foreword 


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To  Teachers: — 

The  contents  of  this  book  are  the  fruit  of  many  years  of  experiment  in  the 
public  schools.  The  pedagogy  suggested  has  been  evolved  gradually  as  it  became 
more  and  more  evident  that  the  old  methods  of  teaching  drawing  would  never 
produce  successful  results  in  the  field  of  home  furnishing. 

To  make  color  live  in  a room  does  not  require  a knowledge  ot  drawing. 
It  does  require  a knowledge  of  color  characteristics,  of  lighting  conditions,  of 
textures,  and  of  color  combinations.  There  is  only  one  way  to  acquire  this 
knowledge;  that  is  by  actual  experience,  to  try  combinations,  to  experiment  with 
colors  in  strong  light,  in  dull  light,  to  try  to  see  patterns  hung  in  folds  as  they 
will  be  used,  to  see  patterns  and  colors  put  together  in  different  lights— these  are 
the  real  problems  that  the  children  must  solve  to  get  their  actual  experience. 

In  all  the  problems  given  in  this  book,  it  is  urged  that  teachers  work  with 
real  materials  and  that  they  use  the  method  of  comparison  directed  by  questions, 
to  develop  discriminations.  Compare  one  paper  with  another  and  select  the  one 
most  suitable  for  a given  purpose.  It  is  better  to  select  from  two  good  ones 
rather  than  from  two,  one  of  which  is  bad,  the  other  good.  Keep  only  good 
things  before  the  children.  Otherwise  there  is  always  the  chance  that  the  bad 
thing  makes  more  impression  than  the  good,  and  the  children  remember  it  more 
clearly.  When  a child  has  made  a choice  of  paper  or  drapery  for  a room  under 
given  condition,  he  has  had  his  reaction  just  as  surely  as  though  he  had  tried  to 
design  the  paper  or  write  a composition  about  it.  His  selection  is  his  reaction. 

The  first  and  easiest  step  in  presenting  this  work  is  the  class  discussion  of 
materials.  By  questions  and  careful  comparisons  establish  the  desired  principles 
for  the  lesson.  Let  the  principles  come  as  a result  of  the  discussion,  selection 
and  rejection  of  material.  It  takes  longer  to  get  results  in  this  way,  but  the  re- 
sults are  worth  while  in  the  end.  Do  not  be  afraid  of  spending  a whole  lesson 
on  discussion  of  materials  with  perhaps  five  or  six  selections  which  are  the  result 
of  the  whole  class  effort.  Very  likely  you  will  not  reach  every  individual,  be  sure 
of  the  selective  power  ot  each  child  as  a result  of  this  first  lesson.  That  comes 
in  the  later  drill  work,  just  as  it  does  in  arithmetic  or  any  academic  subject. 

Follow  this  first  class  discussion  with  group  work.  Probably  there  will 
not  be  enough  material  for  each  pupil  to  work  entirely  by  himself.  Appoint  a 
captain  or  a chairman  for  each  group.  Have  group  selections  made— and  posted 
on  the  bulletin  board.  Leave  selections  on  the  bulletin  board  for  several  days 
so  that  the  class  may  study  them  under  the  different  lighting  conditions  of  differ- 
ent days. 

The  booklet  work  is  suggested  as  an  individual  checking  up  for  each  pupil 
in  the  class.  However,  unless  the  booklet  work  is  preceded  by  much  class  dis- 
cussion and  experiment  with  real  materials,  it  fails  of  its  purpose  and  becomes 
as  stereotyped,  useless,  and  academic  as  the  traditional  drawings  of  elevations  or 

f ' ;35 


rooms.  Children  learn  to  discriminate  very  quickly  and  in  an  astonishingly  short 
time  begin  to  get  a basis  of  classification  and  a genuine  appreciation  of  the  best 
things. 

This  book  has  been  limited  to  color  and  the  room  setting  as  that  forms 
the  first  natural  unit  of  work.  The  authors  have  in  preparation  other  volumes 
dealing  with  furniture,  accessories,  and  arrangement. 

Much  gratitude  is  due  to  Dr.  David  Snedden  of  Columbia  University  for 
his  stimulating  inquiries  in  this  field,  which  first  started  the  authors  searching 
for  a way  to  meet  this  great  need.  Acknowledgment  is  also  made  to  all  those 
students  from  the  Massachusetts  Normal  Art  School,  who  have  conducted  ex- 
periments  under  many  varied  conditions  and  without  whose  enthusiastic  assist' 
ance  the  present  work  would  have  been  impossible. 


Lucy  Davis  Taylor 
Ruth  Appleton  Perkins 


Boston,  April  14,  1921 


Table  of  Contents 


Chapter  I 

Color  Atmosphere 

Chapter  II  . 

Color  Theory 

Chapter  III 

Hue 

Chapter  IV 

Value 

Chapter  V 

Chroma 

Chapter  VI 

Pattern 

Chapter  VII 

Woodwork 

Chapter  VIII 

Line  in  Curtains 

Chapter  IX 

Proportion  and  Curtains 

Chapter  X . 

Color  in  Curtains 

From  George  Leland  Hurrter's 

“DECORATIVE  TEXTILES’ 
By  Permission 


COLOR  ATMOSPHERE 


1 


Chapter  I 

COLOR  ATMOSPHERE 


AVE  you  ever  been  in  a room  so 
attractive  that  it  was  a tempta- 
tion to  stay  there?  Comfort 
and  pleasure  were  in  the  very  at- 
mosphere. You  felt  their  influ- 
ence the  moment  the  threshold  was  crossed. 
A careful  look  around  the  room  would 
probably  have  revealed  the  fact  that 
someone  had  taken  great  care  in  choos- 
ing and  arranging  every  bit  of  color 
and  every  piece  of  furniture.  Nothing  had 
been  left  to  chance.  The  chairs  were  the 
kind  to  drop  into  fearlessly,  not  the  kind 
that  school  books  and  skates  would  be  sure 
to  damage.  No  pale  blue  damask  covering 
set  them  apart  for  the  specially  gowned 
guest  and  the  formal  tea.  They  were  both 
usable  and  comfortable.  Beside  the  reading 
lamp  was  a chair,  generous  enough  in  its 
proportions  to  be  an  invitation  to  a luxuri- 
ous, quiet  treat  with  a book ; two  more  easy 
chairs  near  the  window  suggested  cozy, 
pleasant  chats.  Not  a chair  in  the  room 
that  did  not  look  friendly  and  usable.  The 
books  on  the  table  were  the  kind  to  read, 
not  the  kind  that  are  merely  dusted  on  Sat- 
urday mornings.  Everything  looked  gay 
and  cheerful.  The  whole  room  was  spark- 
ling and  alive  with  bright  spots  of  color; 
pink  sweet  peas  were  in  the  bowl  by  the 
window;  the  same  rose  color  was  echoed 
in  the  silk  shade  of  the  reading  lamp ; deep, 
rich  pink  for  the  draperies  through  which 
the  sun  was  shining  threw  a beautiful  soft 
light  in  the  room.  The  warm  grey  walls 
made  a perfect  background  for  its  radiance. 
Who  could  resist  such  an  invitation?  It 
meant  a beautiful,  restful,  enjoyable  home. 
There  is  a vast  difference  between  rooms 
that  are  just  rooms  and  rooms  that  are 
homes. 

Color  and  its  arrangement  play  a large 


part  in  making  rooms  home-like  and  beauti- 
ful. There  is  no  other  single  element  which 
even  approaches  it  in  importance.  With 
color,  we  can  make  dark  and  gloomy  rooms 
look  gay  and  cheerful.  We  can  make  small 
rooms  look  larger.  We  can  make  big  rooms 
look  smaller  and  more  home-like.  It  is  the 
magic  that  helps  us  pull  incongruous  pieces 
of  furniture  together  and  make  them  fit 
happily  into  their  setting.  With  color,  we 
set  the  character  and  atmosphere  of  a room. 
Surely  it  is  worth  while  to  get  acquainted 
with  it,  to  learn  some  of  its  secrets. 

So  many  secrets!  But  think  of  the  fun 
after  we  have  learned  them  and  can  use 
their  magic.  No  more  restless,  nerve-rack- 
ing rooms  because  there  are  too  many 
bright  colors.  No  more  dreary,  stupid  look- 
ing rooms  because  there  are  too  many  dull 
colors.  For  we  shall  know  how  to  get  the 
happy  medium,  to  use  just  the  right 
amounts  of  bright  and  dull  colors  to  get  the 
happiest,  jolliest,  most  attractive  kinds  of 
rooms. 

The  very  first  secret  is  the  most  impor- 
tant one  of  all.  It  is  the  one  on  which 
all  the  others  depend,  one  we  must  never 
forget  for  a single  moment.  If  we  do,  our 
room  will  fall  to  pieces  instantly. 

In  pleasant  rooms,  there  is  always  one 
color  that  is  used  more  than  any  other. 
In  the  room  we  have  already  described,  it 
was  pink.  This  color  is  known  as  the  dom- 
inant color  note.  Sometimes  it  is  in  the 
draperies  and  the  ornaments;  sometimes  it 
is  in  the  walls,  rugs  and  upholstery.  Think 
of  a big  room  with  the  light  pouring  in  at 
the  windows.  The  walls  are  covered  with 
soft  tan  paper ; the  rugs  are  deep  rich 
brown ; the  woodwork  is  old  ivory ; the 
furniture  is  handsome  dark  brown  oak. 


£ 


COLOR  ATMOSPHERE 


The  curtains  are  brown  and  yellow  with 
dull  blue  spots  in  the  pattern ; handsome 
old  blue  is  on  the  big  sofa  in  front  of  the 
fireplace.  The  same  dull  blue  tone  is 
echoed  in  the  candles  on  the  mantle  and  the 
big  bowl  on  the  table  in  its  turn  holds  a 
bunch  of  brilliant  jonquils,  a clear  bright 
yellow.  Over  the  little  table  against  the 
wall  is  thrown  a brilliant  yellow  cover  with 
with  a few  brown  and  blue  accents  in  the 
pattern,  though  it  is  the  yellow  that  calls 
to  us.  What  is  the  dominant  color  note 
of  the  room?  Is  it  the  yellow,  the  blue  or 
the  brown?  It  is  the  brown.  The  blue  and 
yellow  are  only  bits  of  contrast  in  a big  field 
of  brown.  They  are  like  buttercups  and 
daisies  in  a big  green  field.  The  real  color 
of  the  room  is  brown.  The  yellow  and  blue 
are  bits  of  spicy  contrast.  Not  for  a mo- 
ment would  we  lose  the  feeling  of  the  dom- 
inant color  note,  brown.  Let  us  hold  fast 
to  this  first  secret  to  make  every  room  tell 


one  color  story,  give  us  one  single  strong 
color  impression. 

The  second  secret  is  a very  close  com- 
panion to  this  first  one.  When  we  pick  out 
the  bright  color  accents,  how  can  we  be 
sure  that  they  will  all  go  together  nicely 
and  everything  in  the  room  seem  to  take  its 
right  place?  We  do  not  want  the  rugs  to 
be  so  bright  that  they  appear  to  jump  up 
and  meet  us  before  we  can  get  across  the 
room  to  greet  our  friends.  We  do  not  want 
the  walls  to  call  to  us  so  insistently  that  we 
keep  looking  away  from  our  friends  toward 
them. 

It  is  very  important  to  remember  that 
rooms  are  made  for  people  not  people  for 
rooms.  Never  lose  sight  of  that  fact  for 
one  moment.  It  is  the  very  innermost  se- 
cret of  how  to  make  beautiful  rooms. 

What  do  we  wish  to  see  when  we  go 
into  a room?  The  people.  Everything  else 
is  of  relative  importance.  Always  the  peo- 


Note  the  way  in  which  the  dark  notes  of  the  paper  are  balanced  by  the  dark  curtain.  The 
same  dark  note  is  echoed  in  the  furniture.  The  room  is  pleasant  to 
look  at  because  all  the  parts  fit  together. 


COLOR  ATMOSPHERE 


3 


pie  are  the  center  of  our  attention  and  in- 
terest. All  the  things  in  the  room  are  for 
their  comfort  and  convenience.  The  furni- 
ture, the  rugs,  the  walls  are  only  background 
for  the  family  and  the  things  they  do. 

What  do  we  see  next  ? The  pictures,  the 
lamp  shades,  the  ornaments.  Both  people 
and  ornaments  are  like  the  precious  stones 
in  jewelry,  the  people  the  central  stones,  the 
ornaments  the  little  ones  around  them. 
Everything  else  in  the  room  is  the  setting. 

Color  may  spoil  this  whole  relationship 
if  we  do  not  understand  how  to  handle  it 
just  right.  If  the  setting  is  allowed  to  grow 
very  vivid  in  color,  what  happens  to  the 
jewels?  They  disappear.  Then  the  setting 
has  become  so  strong  that  it  is  seen  before 
the  jewels;  it  is  out  of  place.  In  the  case 
of  the  room,  the  walls  and  rugs  would  be 
seen  before  the  people  and  the  choice  bits  of 
ornament.  Immediately  the  room  would  ac- 
quire a restless,  uncomfortable  feeling.  All 
the  setting  or  background  colors  must  be 
kept  subdued  so  as  not  to  intrude  themselves 
upon  the  attention  until  their  turn  comes. 
Each  one,  in  a well  designed  room,  has  its 
place  and  turn.  Be  sure  that  it  stays  back 
where  it  belongs.  Let  the  jewels  stand 
out  clear  and  strong. 

This  is  the  way  we  get  the  dominant 
color  note  and  keep  the  accents  so  that  they 
all  go  together — by  keeping  all  our  colors 
in  proportion.  Quiet  rooms  or  gay  rooms, 
the  principle  is  the  same.  Always  a ques- 
tion of  jewels  and  their  setting,  of  dull 
places  and  bright  places  in  contrast,  with 
the  strongest  colors  where  the  strongest 
“living”  human  interest  lies. 

Did  you  ever  stop  to  think  that  in 
jewelry  it  is  the  small  parts,  the  gems  them- 
selves that  are  bright,  and  the  large  parts, 
the  setting,  that  is  dull  ? So  it  is  with 
rooms. 

The  walls,  the  floor,  and  the  ceiling  are 
the  largest  surfaces  in  a room.  They  need 
also  to  be  the  dullest  in  color  if  the  pro- 


portion is  to  be  kept.  It  is  against  them 
that  the  jewels  are  to  sparkle.  If  they  are 
not  right,  the  whole  color  scheme  is  thrown 
out  immediately.  They  are  its  very  foun- 
dation. 

They  not  only  have  this  relation  to  the 
other  objects  in  the  room,  they  have  like- 
wise a certain  relation  to  each  other,  that 
has  to  be  just  as  carefully  maintained.  Out 
of  doors,  we  are  used  to  seeing  the  dark 
ground  around  us  and  the  light  sky  above 
us.  We  grow  accustomed  to  expecting 
something  light  above  us.  Perhaps  this  is 
the  reason  why  we  feel  more  comfortable 
when  the  floor  is  kept  dark,  the  walls  a 
little  lighter,  and  the  ceiling  the  lightest 
thing  in  the  room.  Rooms  with  light  floors 
are  apt  to  be  very  unpleasant.  They  seem 
to  reach  up  toward  us  instead  of  staying 
down  flat.  Ceilings  that  are  dark  are 
equally  disagreeable.  They  are  oppressive. 
Ceilings  that  are  tinted  the  same  color  as 
the  wall-paper,  though  much  lighter,  fit 
into  the  color  scheme  beautifully. 

Usually  it  is  the  walls  that  set  the  main 
background  color  for  the  room.  Ordinar- 
ily, the  colors  of  floor  and  rugs  are  selected 
to  go  well  with  the  walls;  ceilings  are 
tinted  to  go  with  them;  draperies  are 
chosen  to  match  them ; upholstery  and  ac- 
cents get  their  inspiration  from  them.  They 
are  the  key-note  for  establishing  the  domi- 
nant color  atmosphere.  They  are  the  larg- 
est surfaces  of  all ; they  are  the  surfaces 
that  we  see  most  of.  That  is  why  we  are 
going  to  study  them  first. 

But  in  studying  them,  let  us  remember 
that  beautiful  rooms  can  only  be  achieved 
when  we  plan  every  bit  of  color  that  is  to 
be  used  to  keep  its  right  relation  to  every 
other  bit  of  color.  All  are  parts  that  fit 
together.  To  get  color  atmosphere  and 
make  rooms  homelike  we  must  try  to  plan 
them  so  that  they  will  truly  fit  together  in 
their  color  relationships. 


4 


COLOR  THEO  R Y 


Chapter  II 

COLOR  THEORY 


HE  hat  looked  pretty  and  tempt- 
ing in  the  store.  It  was  a beau- 
tiful shade  of  blue.  Home  it 
was  taken  and  gleefully  it  was 
shown  to  the  family.  Why  did 
they  fail  to  be  enthusiastic?  What  was  the 
matter?  They  offered  no  criticism  of  the 
hat  itself.  They  agreed  that  it  was  very 
pretty,  but,  they  said  that  it  “made  Olive’s 
face  look  yellow!”  She  had  forgotten  that 
buying  a pretty  hat  was  only  half  of  the 
story.  The  other  half  of  the  story  was  to 
have  it  becoming  to  her. 

Every  time  that  we  buy  clothes  or  furni- 
ture, we  have  to  consider  the  colors  them- 
selves ; we  also  have  to  consider  if  they  will 
look  well  with  all  the  other  colors  to  be 
used ; if  they  will  be  becoming  to  them. 

None  of  us  make  mistakes  like  this  from 
choice.  We  make  them  because  we  do  not 
know  any  better.  We  ignorantly  guess  at 
the  way  to  use  colors  together.  To  know  is 
better  than  to  guess.  We  do  not  try  to 
guess  at  the  multiplication  table ; we  know 
it.  If  we  were  trusting  to  guess  work,  we 
might  try  to  make  four  nickels  equal 
twenty-five  cents,  and  would  be  in  trouble 
constantly  as  a result.  To  know  the  rules 
of  color  combinations  is  just  the  same  as  to 
know  the  rules  of  multiplication ; if  we 
know,  we  do  not  have  to  take  chances  in 
a hit  or  miss  fashion.  We  can  work  with 
the  certainty  of  getting  a good  result.  If 
we  do  not  understand  them  thoroughly,  we 
would  always  be  in  the  class  with  Olive. 

The  world  is  full  of  color.  It  is  an  as- 
tonishing and  comforting  fact  that  every 
one  of  these  many  colors  can  be  recognized, 
sorted  out,  and  grouped  under  one  of  six 
big  color  families.  Every  color  which  was 
ever  seen  in  nature  or  in  any  kind  of  ma- 
terial comes  into  one  of  these  big  families. 

These  color  families  or  hues,  as  they  are 
called,  are  the  six  spectrum  colors,  red,  or- 
ange, yellow,  green,  blue,  and  purple.  Each 
color  family  includes  a wide  range  of  colors 
within  itself.  When  we  say  green,  we  may 


mean  a green  that  is  very  yellow  like  the 
leaves  in  some  plants;  we  may  mean  em- 
erald green ; we  may  mean  blue  green,  the 
color  of  jade.  It  would  be  impossible  to 
name  all  the  greens.  Yet  this  fact  stands 
out  distinctly — we  always  recognize  them 
as  greens. 

We  might  go  still  further  and  always 
recognize  them  as  yellow  greens,  blue 
greens,  or  medium  greens  that  are  neither 
yellow  nor  blue;  just  green.  We  may  grade 
these  in  a series,  as  in  Fig.  4.  Put  plain 
green  in  the  center.  Put  yellow  at  one  end 
and  blue  at  the  other  end.  Half  way  be- 
tween yellow  and  green  will  come  yellow 
green.  Half  way  between  blue  and  green 
will  come  blue  green.  The  yellow  green 
has  as  much  yellow  as  green  in  it  so  that 
it  feels  balanced  between  the  two.  The 
name  “yellow  green”  indicates  half  yellow, 
half  green.  The  same  is  true  with  the  blue 
green,  half  blue,  half  green.  Between  yel- 
low and  yellow  green  might  be  a great 
many  graduations  of  yellow  green,  some 
with  a great  deal  of  yellow,  some  with  a 
great  deal  of  green  in  them.  Every  one  of 
the  color  hues  can  be  graded  in  the  same 
way.  See  Figures  1,  2,  3,  4,  5,  6.  These 
half  and  half  hues  are  called  intermediates. 

The  person  who  really  knows  color  can 
always  recognize  each  of  these  hues,  stan- 
dard and  intermediates,  and  place  it  ex- 
actly where  it  belongs  in  the  family  scale. 

EXERCISES: 

1.  Make  a color  scale  in  either  crayons 
or  watercolors  for  each  of  the  six 
standard  hues.  Use  Figures  1 to  6 
as  a guide.  Place  the  color  with 
which  you  are  working  in  the  center 
first.  Place  the  two  colors  at  the  ends 
next.  Then  get  the  two  intermedi- 
ates. 

(This  exercise  should  be  omitted  if 
students  have  done  it  in  preceding 

classes.) 

2.  Make  a set  of  “Selection”  sheets. 
There  are  six  standard  hues  and  six 


COLOR  THE  O R Y 


5 


intermediates.  It  is  important  to  be 
able  to  select  at  a glance  an  orange 
red  and  not  confuse  it  with  a red.  To 
learn  to  do  this  successfully  means 
practice  in  picking  out  colors,  naming 
them  as  best  you  can,  and  then  test- 
ing them  against  a scale  to  see  how 


nearly  right  your  estimate  came.  This 
exercise  will  give  just  that  kind  of 
practice. 

INTERMEDIATES: 

Take  six  sheets  of  white  paper  \ }/2 
inches  by  6 inches.  At  the  top  of 
each  sheet  draw  a 1-inch  square,  spac- 


p 

PR 

R 

RO 

0 

Fig.  1 

R 

RO 

0 

or 

Y 

Fig.  2 

0 

or 

V 

i 

| YG 

n* 

kj 

Fig.  3 

Y 

YG 

G 

GB 

B 

Fig.  4 

G 

GB 

B 

i 

BR 

P 

Fig.  5 

B 

BP 

R 

RR 

R 

6 


COLOR  THE  O R Y 


ing  it  carefully.  Fill  in  each  square 
with  one  of  the  intermediates,  using 
either  water  color  or  crayons.  From 
advertisements,  colored  magazine  il- 
lustrations, postcards,  wall-papers,  or 
cloth,  cut  small  samples  which  belong 
to  each  of  the  color  families  shown  at 
the  head  of  the  sheet.  They  do  not 
need  to  exactly  match ; they  need  only 
to  belong  to  that  family.  Use  the 
scales  for  helping  to  test ; for  exam- 
ple, if  the  sample  seems  to  be  orange 
red  but  you  are  not  sure,  try  it 
against  the  standard  red,  the  inter- 
mediate orange  red,  and  the  standard 
orange.  When  you  compare  it  with 
all  three,  you  will  find  it  easier  to 
make  your  decision. 

(NOTE:  If  necessary,  make  selection 

sheets  for  standards,  also.) 

Before  we  are  ready  to  use  our  color 
combinations  successfully  there  are  two 
more  things  that  we  have  to  learn  about  our 
color  families.  We  have  located  the  Hue 
house  in  which  each  family  lives.  Now  we 
have  to  find  out  on  which  floor  the  family 
lives.  Some  reds  are  light,  some  are  dark. 
The  light  reds  we  call  pink.  It  is  the  dark 
reds  that  we  usually  think  of  as  red.  When 
they  are  very,  very  dark,  as  on  some  auto- 
mobiles, we  often  speak  of  them  as  maroon. 

Any  one  of  the  hues  of  red — for  ex- 
ample, orange  red,  red,  or  purple  red — may 
be  light,  medium,  dark,  or  very  dark.  This 
lightness  or  darkness  of  a color  we  speak 
of  as  its  Value. 

The  lightest  tone  that  we  can  have  is 
white.  The  darkest  that  we  can  have  is 
black.  Neither  one  is  a color.  Between 
white  and  black  there  are  a great  many  de- 
grees of  grey;  very  light  grey,  light  grey, 
medium  grey,  dark  grey,  very  dark  grey. 

EXERCISES: 

1.  Make  a value  scale  of  at  least  five 
steps.  Start  with  white  and  black. 
Get  a middle  grey  half  way  between 
the  two.  Test  it  by  placing  it  direct- 
ly on  the  other  two.  Then  get  the 
step  half-way  between  middle  and 
white  in  the  same  way.  Last,  get  the 
step  half-way  between  middle  and 
black. 

(NOTE:  If  students  have  made  scales  in 


preceding  classes,  Exercise  1 may  be 
omitted.) 

SELECTION  EXERCISES: 

2.  It  is  as  important  to  be  able  to  esti- 
mate values  and  place  them  accord- 
ing to  the  scale  as  to  recognize  and 
place  the  hues.  Use  a standard  value 
scale.  Test  several  color  samples  for 
value  with  the  scale.  Use  wall-paper 
samples,  drapery  samples,  paint  sam- 
ples, any  “real”  things  that  are  useful 
to  know  more  about. 

To  find  out  just  how  light  or  dark  a 
given  color  is,  test  it  with  this  grey  scale 
in  which  there  is  no  bright  hue  to  confuse 
you.  Cut  out  a little  piece  of  the  color. 
Put  it  beside  the  grey  note  that  it  seems 
most  like.  Partly  close  your  eyes  so  that  if 
the  red  hue  in  your  color  patch  is  very 
strong  you  will  scarcely  see  it,  but  will  get 
a grey  effect  from  it.  Move  it  around  on 
the  edge  of  the  value  patch.  Does  it  look 
lighter  or  darker  than  the  scale?  Try  the 
one  above,  the  one  below.  Experiment 
until  you  have  found  where  the  color  comes 
on  the  value  scale.  Then  you  know  ex- 
actly how  light  or  dark  the  color  is.  You 
are  ready  to  use  it  intelligently.  You  are 
not  guessing;  you  know. 

Now  we  have  located  our  family  in  its 
Hue  house.  We  have  located  it  also  on  the 
top  floor  or  on  the  bottom  floor ; we  know 
how  to  tell  whether  it  is  light  or  dark. 
There  is  one  more  thing  that  we  have  to 
know  about  the  family. 

Some  colors  are  very  bright,  so  bright 
that  they  almost  make  your  eyes  ache  when 
you  look  at  them.  Some  colors  are  very 
dull,  so  dull  that  you  really  are  not  sure 
what  color  they  are. 

Did  you  ever  put  a sponge  into  water 
and  watch  it  soak  up  the  water?  It  soaks 
and  soaks  until  finally  it  will  not  soak  up 
any  more.  Then  we  say  that  it  is  saturated. 
If  you  have  tried  to  mop  up  the  floor,  you 
have  found  the  same  thing  true.  The  mop 
worked  well  until  it  was  so  full  of  water 
that  it  would  not  absorb  any  more.  You 
had  to  wring  it  out  before  you  could  finish 
the  work.  It,  too,  was  “saturated”  with 
the  water. 

The  same  thing  happens  to  color.  Did 
you  ever  see  a green,  a bright  green  that 


COLOR  THEORY 


7 


was  so  soaked,  so  saturated  with  green  that 
you  knew  it  could  not  possibly  be  one  bit 
greener?  It  just  could  not  stand  being  any 
greener.  Or  a yellow  that  was  so  full  of 
yellow  that  it  could  not  possibly  be  any 
more  yellow? 

These  are  the  saturated  colors.  They 
are  very  vivid,  very  pronounced ; they  are 
the  strong  colors.  Sometimes,  instead  of 
saying  saturated,  we  call  them  very  chro- 
matic. We  mean  simply  that  they  are  very 
full  of  color,  bright,  strong,  intense. 

All  colors  are  not  intense.  Some  are 
very  dull  and  subdued.  When  they  are 
dull,  weak,  subdued,  we  say  that  they  are 
unchromatic.  They  are  like  the  sponge 
when  it  has  not  soaked  up  much  water. 

Light  pink  may  be  bright  light  pink, 
or  it  may  be  a dull  and  subdued  light  pink, 
a soft,  gentle  kind  of  color.  Light  blue 
may  be  a bright,  vivid  light  blue,  or  it  may 
be  a dull,  soft,  light  blue.  Dark  green 
may  be  a very  intense,  strong,  prominent 
green,  or  it  may  be  so  subdued  that  you 
would  scarcely  recognize  it  as  a green.  Any 


hue  may  be  taken  at  any  value  and  be  made 
either  strong,  pronounced,  saturated,  or 
dull,  weak,  subdued. 

EXERCISE: 

1.  Make  selections  of  samples  of  “real 
things,”  as  papers,  paints,  cloth,  and 
classify  them  as  to  whether  they  are 
chromatic  or  unchromatic.  Do  not 
try  to  chart  these.  It  is  sufficient 
for  all  practical  purposes  to  recognize 
them  as  either  chromatic,  unchro- 
matic, or  medium  chromatic. 

Now  we  have  the  whole  story.  If  we 
can  pick  out  a color  and  place  its  hue,  tell 
where  it  comes  in  the  value  scale,  light, 
medium,  or  dark,  and  decide  whether  it 
is  chromatic  or  unchromatic,  we  are  ready 
to  learn  how  to  use  color  to  get  success- 
ful results. 

EXERCISE.  RESULT  SHEETS. 

To  make  sure  you  know  every 
color  may  vary  in  hue,  value,  and 
chroma,  make  a sheet  for  one  or 
more  of  the  hues  like  the  one  shown 
in  Figure  7. 


C hr-  OTTJQ 


8 


H U E 


Chapter  III 

HUE 


’S  uncle  went  to  New 
k on  a business  trip.  He 
Jean  with  him.  She  came 
bubbling  over  with  a de- 
for  a brown  and  gold  eve- 
ning dress.  She  had  seen  them  in  the  shop 
windows  and  at  the  theatres  everywhere. 
They  were  very  stylish. 

Jean  was  very  dark;  she  had  a lovely 
dark  skin  and  dark  brown  eyes.  She  had 
not  noticed  that  most  of  the  girls  who 
wore  these  fashionable  dresses  were  either 
very  light  or  auburn. 

She  persuaded  her  mother  to  let  her  have 
a brown  dress,  and  she  wore  it  to  the  As- 
sembly. She  came  home  quite  discouraged ; 
no  one  had  enthused  over  it.  Several  girls 
thought  it  was  a lovely  dress  but  no  one 
said  she  looked  well  in  it.  Jean  did  not 
realize  that  she  looked  like  a somber  little 
owl  in  the  midst  of  all  the  bright  colors. 
If  she  had  picked  out  light  yellow  to  con- 
trast with  her  brown  hair,  as  the  girls  in 
New  York  with  the  light  and  bright  hair 
had  picked  out  the  brown  for  contrast,  she 
would  have  looked  stunning  too. 

Rooms  need  colors  that  are  becoming  to 
them  just  the  same  as  did  Jean.  A color 
may  look  very  well  in  one  room.  In  the 
next  room,  where  the  sun  comes  in  under 
different  conditions,  the  same  color  may  be 
much  less  attractive.  What  makes  the  dif- 
ference? 

What  are  the  warmest  things  that  we 
know  about?  Fire  and  sunlight.  When 
we  think  of  heat,  we  think  either  of  a 
fire  or  the  warm,  bright  sun.  What  colors 
do  fires  show?  Yellow,  orange  and  red  for 
the  most  part.  What  color  do  we  think 
of  the  sunbeams  as  they  stream  through  a 
window  across  the  floor?  Bright  light  yel- 
low. 

All  the  colors  which  are  connected  with 


heat  we  call  warm  colors.  They  give  us 
a feeling  of  warmth  and  glow  when  we 
look  at  them. 

What  are  the  coldest  things  that  we  can 
think  of?  Snow  and  ice.  The  colors  that 
we  see  in  these  are  blues  and  purples. 
Look  at  the  shadows  of  the  tree  trunks 
on  the  snow.  They  are  beautiful  spark- 
ling blue  or  purple.  Green  trees  in  sum- 
mer give  the  cool  refreshing  notes  which 
are  a relief  from  the  heat  of  the  sun. 

All  the  colors  which  are  connected  with 
cold,  we  call  the  cold  colors.  They  are 
the  colors  which  have  the  blue  and  purple 
quality  in  them;  the  greens,  blue  greens, 
blues,  blue  purples,  and  purples. 

There  are  some  colors  that  are  mixtures 
like  the  browns  and  greys  which  may  be 
either  warm  or  cold.  Look  at  several 
browns  very  carefully.  Do  they  have  a 
yellow  or  orange  tinge,  a red  or  a 
blue  tinge?  If  it  is  very  hard  to  tell,  try 
the  brown  against  a yellow,  an  orange, 
and  a blue  spot.  Which  does  it  seem  most 
like?  If  the  brown  has  a good  deal  of 
yellow,  orange,  or  red  in  it,  it  is  a warm 
brown.  If  it  has  a great  deal  of  blue  in 
it,  then  it  is  a cool  brown. 

Greys  may  be  sorted  out  in  the  same 
manner.  Those  having  yellow,  orange,  or 
red  tinges,  even  though  they  may  be  very 
slight,  give  a much  warmer  effect  than 
the  greys  which  are  slightly  colored  with 
the  cool  colors,  blue,  green,  or  purple. 

These  differences  between  warm  and 
cool  colors  are  very  necessary  to  under- 
stand when  we  are  trying  to  fit  colors  to 
rooms.  Let  us  see  why. 

Figure  8 is  the  plan  of  a small  house. 
It  faces  towards  the  southwest.  Into 
which  rooms  will  the  sunlight  fall?  The 
answer  to  this  question  gives  the  clue  to 
selecting  colors  that  are  becoming  to 
rooms  ? 


H UE 


9 


The  sun  rises  in  the  east.  In  the  morn- 
ing, the  east  rooms  will  have  the  sunlight. 
At  noon,  the  sun  is  shining  from  the  south. 
During  the  middle  of  the  day,  the  south 
rooms  will  have  the  sunlight.  In  the  even- 
ing, the  sun  sets  in  the  west.  During  the 
afternoon,  the ' west  rooms  have  the  sun- 
light. At  no  time  during  the  whole  day 
does  the  sun  get  into  the  north  rooms. 
They  will  never  feel  the  warmth  and  glow 
of  the  sunshine. 

In  the  south  rooms,  the  sun  will  stream 
in  throughout  the  middle  of  the  day.  At 
this  time,  the  rays  of  the  sun  are  much 
hotter  than  earlier  or  later  in  the  day. 
They  shine  more  directly,  and  it  is  by  far 
the  hottest  time  of  the  day. 

Think  of  a big  south  living  room.  The 
sun  is  pouring  in  through  five  big  windows 
all  through  the  warm  noon  time.  Think 
how  you  would  feel  in  that  room  on  a very 


hot  day  in  summer  when  the  thermometer 
was  102°  in  the  shade.  It  would  be  a blind- 
ing, hot  glare  of  light. 

What  do  you  wish  to  put  on  the  walls? 

Shall  you  use  a red  wall-paper?  How 
would  red  look  in  there?  Already  the 
room  is  hot  and  blinding.  If  you  use  a 
red  paper,  you  would  be  adding  more 
warmth  to  make  you  feel  still  hotter.  You 
might  not  mind  the  red  paper  in  the  middle 
of  winter  when  the  sun  rays  were  not  so 
hot,  but  as  soon  as  the  warm  weather 
came,  the  room  would  be  unbearable. 

This  is  the  time  to  use  our  color  inform- 
ation and  prevent  any  such  mistakes  from 
being  made.  Blues,  blue  greens,  purples, 
and  some  greys  are  cold  colors.  We  have 
an  example  in  subtraction.  A cold  color 
will  take  away  from  the  warmth  of  the 
light  and  make  the  room  look  cooler. 
When  we  used  the  warm  color  we  were 


N 


FIGURE  8 


Sun  moves  in  direction  that  arrows  point.  North  rooms 
have  no  sunlight  at  any  time  during  the  day. 


10 


H UE 


doing  addition,  adding  warmth  to  warmth. 
Now  we  are  doing  subtraction  taking 
away  warmth  by  using  a cold  color.  Let 
us  remember  that  in  south  rooms  we  are 
going  to  use  cool  colors. 

Think  of  a north  bedroom.  The  wind 
is  howling  around  the  corners  of  the  house, 
blowing  the  snow  in  great  drifts,  rattling 
the  blinds  and  windows.  It  almost  makes 
you  shiver  to  think  of  it. 

North  rooms  get  no  sunlight.  There  is 
no  glow  and  warmth  to  make  them  look 
cheerful.  If  we  think  back  to  our  addition 
and  subtraction,  we  know  immediately 
what  colors  to  use.  Cold  added  to  cold 
would  make  more  cold.  Warm  subtracted 
from  cold  would  make  less  cold.  There- 
fore, we  know  that  in  order  to  make  north 
rooms  less  cold,  we  are  going  to  use  warm 
colors. 

A bright,  soft,  glowing  yellow,  a rich 
soft  brown  would  do  much  to  make  the 
room  have  some  of  the  cheery  sunny  feel- 
ing. Let  us  remember  that  in  north  rooms 
we  are  going  to  use  warm  colors. 

East  and  west  rooms  are  harder  prob- 
lems, but  we  shall  solve  them  by  the  same 
rules.  The  sun  does  not  stay  in  an  east 
room  as  long  as  in  a south  room.  By 
eleven  o’clock,  the  room  is  sunless,  and  so 
it  will  remain  for  the  rest  of  the  day,  for 
the  sun  has  gone  around  the  corner  of  the 
house  and  has  begun  to  creep  into  those 
south  windows.  What  does  this  mean  ? 
Before  eleven  o’clock,  the  east  room  is  a 
warm  room.  After  eleven  o’clock,  it  is  a 
cool  room.  What  can  we  do  about  it? 
Shall  we  use  a warm  paper  or  a cool  paper  ? 

The  answer  depends  entirely  upon  the 
time  of  day  that  the  family  will  be  in  the 
room.  If  the  sun  is  there  when  the  family 
is  using  it,  a comparatively  cool  paper  may 
be  used.  On  the  other  hand,  if  the  sun  is 
way  around  the  other  side  of  the  house 
when  the  family  is  using  the  room,  a com- 
paratively warm  paper  may  be  used. 

Few  of  us  stay  in  our  bedrooms  very  late 
in  the  morning.  When  we  wake  up  in  an 
east  bedroom,  the  sun  is  there,  too.  Very 
likely  we  do  not  return  to  that  room  until 
evening  when  the  lights  are  lighted.  We 
could  use  a cool  paper  on  the  walls  because 
during  the  part  of  the  day  that  we  are  in 
the  room  it  is  sunny.  Of  course,  the  morn- 


ing sun  is  never  so  bright  and  hot  as  the 
noon  sun.  But  nevertheless,  it  will  be  fair- 
ly warm.  Warm  greys,  greys  with  pat- 
terns that  have  soft  rose  pink  and  blue  notes 
in  them,  buffs,  unchromatic  yellows,  papers 
with  a white  ground  and  little  blue  or 
green  figures  or  stripes,  soft  lavenders,  cool 
rose  pinks,  all  will  look  well. 

Mother  may  have  an  east  bedroom  which 
she  uses  as  a sewing  room.  She  is  in  there 
at  intervals  all  days,  often  sewing  for  long 
hours  in  the  afternoon.  To  her,  the  east 
bedroom  would  be  a cool  room.  She  would 
want  to  use  the  warmer  colors  on  the 
walls.  The  warmest  greys  with  pink  and 
yellow  accents  in  the  pattern,  the  warm 
buffs  and  light  soft,  warm  browns,  the  yel- 
lows, warm  pinks,  and  the  warm  yellow 
green  papers  are  what  she  needs. 

If  you  are  going  to  do  your  home  les- 
sons in  your  bedroom  every  afternoon  and 
are  likely  to  be  there  between  four  and 
six  o’clock,  those  are  the  papers  that  you 
need,  too. 

We  have  used  the  bedroom  for  an  ex- 
ample. It  makes  no  difference  if  it  be  bed- 
room, living  room,  dining  room,  or  hall. 
We  would  solve  the  problem  in  the  same 
way.  What  time  of  day  is  the  room  to  be 
used?  Is  it  warm  or  cold  at  that  time? 
If  cool,  use  a warm  paper.  If  warm,  use  a 
cool  paper. 

West  rooms  are  just  the  reverse  of  east 
rooms.  The  problem  will  be  answered  in 
precisely  the  same  way.  The  sun  gets  into 
them  about  two  o’clock.  Before  that  time, 
they  are  cool ; after  that  time,  they  are 
warm.  Decide  upon  the  time  of  day  they 
are  to  be  used  and  treat  them  accordingly. 

Before  we  leave  this  question  of  hue, 
there  is  one  more  very  important  fact  that 
we  need  to  know. 

Have  you  ever  seen  a woman  carrying 
a red  umbrella  and  noticed  how  the  light 
shining  through  it  made  her  face  look  very 
pink?  Have  you  ever  held  a red  blotter 
under  an  electric  desk  light?  The  blotter 
throws  off  a strong  red  light  which  makes 
the  whole  room  look  pinkish.  Something 
similar  to  this  happens  when  the  sun  shines 
on  a brick  wall.  The  wall  throws  off  a 
reddish  light.  We  say  that  the  surface 
is  reflecting  red  light. 


H U E 


11 


We  have  a north  bedroom.  Directly 
across  a very  narrow  alley,  just  wide 
enough  for  the  ash  cart,  are  the  brick  walls 
of  the  next  apartment  house.  They  face 
toward  the  south.  As  our  house  is  not 
tall,  the  sun  shines  on  the  opposite  wall 
many  hours  each  day.  What  is  happening 
to  the  light  in  our  room?  Exactly  the  same 
thing  that  happened  to  the  room  in  the 
preceding  paragraph.  If  we  hold  a paper 
up  near  our  window,  it  will  look  look  quite 
pink.  Morever,  that  pinkish  glow  will 
spread  throughout  the  room. 

It  is  very  necessary  to  know  that  this 
sort  of  thing  will  happen.  We  should  look 
all  around  our  house  to  see  what  colored 
objects,  trees,  other  houses,  water,  are  near 
enough  to  cast  their  reflected  light  into  our 
rooms.  In  this  particular  case,  it  means 
that  instead  of  the  usual  cold  sunless  north 
light,  we  have  a soft  warm  reddish  reflec- 
tion to  consider.  That  reflection  would 
change  our  choice  of  paper.  We  would 
select  a paper  that  was  cooler  than  if  our 
house  were  out  in  the  country  with  nothing 
near  enough  the  north  windows  to  cast  a 
reflected  light  within.  We  would  not  use 
a yellow  as  chromatic  as  under  other  con- 
ditions; if  we  chose  a brown,  it  could  be 


a cooler  brown.  But  even  this  room  can- 
not stand  a really  cold  paper,  such  as  blue. 

In  the  cities,  the  houses  that  are  very 
near  each  other  always  cast  a reflection 
through  the  windows  opposite  the  walls  on 
which  the  sun  shines.  Always  we  have 
to  do  a little  more  thinking,  and  subtract 
or  add  to  the  warmth  of  the  papers  ac- 
cording to  the  color  that  is  being  reflected. 

EXERCISE: 

1.  From  wall-paper  samples,  select  a 

paper  for  a north  room. 

2.  From  wall-paper  samples,  select  a 

paper  for  a south  room. 

3.  From  wall-paper  samples,  select  a 

paper  for  an  east  room  that  is  to  be 
used  in  the  morning  only. 

4.  From  wall-paper  samples,  select  a 

paper  for  an  east  room  that  is  to  be 
used  all  day. 

5.  Select  a paper  for  a west  room  that 
is  to  be  used  only  in  the  morning. 

6.  Select  a paper  for  a west  room  that  is 
to  be  used  only  in  the  afternoon. 

7.  Select  a paper  for  a north  bedroom, 
with  a yellow  house  very  near. 

8.  Select  a paper  for  a west  living  room 
with  a red  house  very  near. 


12 


VAL  UE 


Chapter  IV 

VALUE 


LL  day  it  rained.  A dark,  dull, 
dreary  day.  Mary  came  into 
the  house,  threw  down  her 
school  bag  with  a sigh  of  relief, 
took  off  her  wet  coat  and 
started  toward  the  sitting  room,  thinking 
she  would  settle  down  comfortably  with 
that  new  book  she  got 


from  the  library 


new 

the  evening  before. 

Down  she  sat  in  her  favorite  big  chair 
by  the  side  window  and  began  to  read. 
Soon  she  drew  her  chair  closer  to  the  win- 
dow; the  light  was  very  bad.  She  started 
reading  again.  A few  moments  and, — well, 
the  light  certainly  was  poor.  It  had  not 
been  so  poor  in  school.  In  fact,  she  had 
hardly  noticed  that  the  rainy  day  had  made 
any  difference.  What  was  the  matter? 


She  glanced  up  and  looked  around.  The 
room  itself  appeared  dark,  full  of  shadows. 
A great  contrast  to  the  bright,  cheery-look- 
ing  schoolroom.  What  made  the  differ- 
ence. 


Suddenly  she  remembered  something  that 
her  drawing  teacher  had  once  said.  Mary 
had  not  paid  much  attention  at  the  time, 
but  this  must  have  been  the  sort  of  thing 
that  the  teacher  had  referred  to. 


She  had  described  a kitchenette  with  one 
window  opening  on  to  a little  porch.  She 
had  told  how  that  kitchenette  had  looked 
originally  with  dark  brown  paint  on  the 
walls;  how  dark,  dreary,  and  small  it  had 
appeared.  To  have  appetizing  food  come 
out  of  it  had  seemed  an  impossibility. 

Then  she  had  told  what  had  been  done 
to  transform  it  into  a bright,  cheerful-look- 
ing place  where  she  had  loved  to  work. 
How  the  light  soft  yellow  walls  and  the 
white  enamel  paint  on  the  woodwork  had 
made  it  look  lighter  and  larger.  She  had 
told  the  class  that  walls  which  were  light 
in  value  always  made  rooms  seem  lighter 
because  they  reflected  light. 


For  the  first  time,  Mary  saw  what  she 
had  meant.  She  looked  at  the  paper  in 
the  room  where  she  sat.  It  was  a very  dark 
green.  She  looked  at  the  windows,  for  the 
teacher  had  said  something  about  the  num- 
ber of  windows  making  a difference.  There 
were  two  windows  to  light  the  big  room. 
One  of  them  opened  upon  a piazza  which 
cut  off  a good  share  of  the  light. 

Mary  suddenly  realized  that  the  room 
was  a dark  room  anyway,  even  on  a bright 
sunny  day.  In  summer,  with  the  piazza  and 
the  big  tree  outside,  it  was  very  cool  and 
dark  and  restful.  But  in  the  winter,  she 
remembered  now,  it  had  always  been 
gloomy. 

She  thought  of  the  schoolroom  again. 
What  color  were  the  walls  there?  Buff. 
She  tried  to  picture  that  color  right  there 
in  the  living  room  and  presto, — it  changed 
the  whole  room  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye. 
She  could  see  the  room  grow  lighter  and 
brighter.  See  it  come  to  life,  see  it  seem 
to  stretch  out  and  grow  larger,  and  the 
dreariness  of  the  shadows  and  the  grey 
day  disappear. 

Mary’s  experience  with  the  room  was 
akin  to  Jean’s  experience  with  the  dress. 
A little  information  about  how  to  use 
colors  in  a dark  room  would  have  given 
Mary  a pleasant  place  to  sit  and  read,  in- 
stead of  that  dreary  room  on  that  wet 
day. 

In  Chapter  3 we  learned  that  bright  sur- 
faces like  brick  walls  with  the  sun  shin- 
ing on  them,  reflect  their  hue.  Now  we 
are  going  one  step  farther.  All  light  colors, 
no  matter  what  hue  they  may  be,  reflect 
light.  That  does  not  mean  color,  hue.  It 
means  just  what  it  says,  Light.  Wherever 
there  is  a very  light,  nearly  white  surface, 
there  is  luminosity  around  it,  because  the 
light  shining  on  it  is  being  thrown  off 
again,  reflected. 


V A L U E 


13 


Snow  covered  fields  with  the  sun  shin- 
ing on  them  are  blinding  to  look  at  be- 
cause they  are  reflecting  so  much  light. 
The  same  fields  in  the  summer  with  the 
green  grass,  being  darker,  reflect  less  light. 
The  lighter  the  value  of  the  surface,  the 
stronger  the  light  reflection ; the  darker  the 
value,  the  weaker  the  light  reflection. 

Now  it  is  easy  to  see  how  this  fact  works 
inside  of  a room.  The  lighter  the  walls, 
the  greater  the  reflected  light,  thus  the 
lighter  the  room  will  look.  Therefore,  if 
for  any  reason  at  all  there  is  not  much 
light  in  a room,  always  use  a light  value 
wall-paper. 

The  light  in  rooms  varies  a great  deal. 
Often  there  are  plenty  of  windows  to  give 
bountiful  light  in  the  room,  but  something 
cuts  it  off.  It  may  be  a piazza,  it  may  be 
trees,  it  may  be  the  next  house.  It  is  al- 
ways wise  to  think  about  what  is  outside 
the  windows.  If  we  think  of  the  room  on 
sunny  days  and  dull  days,  winter  and  sum- 
mer, and  take  into  account  the  amount  of 
light  there  usually  is  in  the  room,  we  shall 
be  sure  to  get  a paper  that  is  exactly  the 
right  value  to  meet  all  of  our  needs  in  all 
kinds  of  light  conditions. 

So  far,  we  have  only  talked  about  mak- 
ing dark  rooms  lighter.  What  are  we  go- 
ing to  do  with  very  light  rooms?  Can  we 
make  them  darker  if  we  wish  to  do  so? 

Suppose  we  have  a big  south  bedroom 
with  five  huge  windows.  The  house  faces 
the  ocean.  There  are  no  piazzas,  trees, 
nor  neighbors’  houses  to  cut  off  the  light 
from  the  windows.  On  the  walls  is  a 
very  light  grey  paper,  beautiful  in  itself 
but  reflecting  a great  deal  of  light.  All 
together  there  is  a glare.  Too  much  of  a 
glare  to  live  with  constantly. 

Shall  we  add  to  our  light  reflection  in 
this  room  or  subtract  from  it?  We  all 
know  the  answer;  we  are  going  to  sub- 
tract from  it,  try  to  tone  the  room  down 
by  making  it  darker.  We  shall  use  a 


medium  value  or  a dark  value  wall-paper. 
Our  rule  is  very  simple.  To  reduce  the 
light  in  a room,  use  a medium  value  or  a 
dark  value  in  the  wall-paper. 

The  value  of  the  walls  has  still  another 
effect  upon  a room.  Picture  to  yourself 
a very  small  bedroom  with  a very  dark 
green  paper  on  the  walls.  Even  the 
thought  of  it  is  uncomfortable.  It  is  small 
and  stuffy. 

What  can  we  do  about  it?  Think  of  it 
with  light  yellow,  light  grey,  light  blue. 
Can  you  see  the  difference?  To  make 
small  rooms  look  larger,  use  light  value 
papers. 

Now  picture  an  enormous  room.  We 
do  not  wish  to  make  it  look  larger.  What 
shall  we  do  here?  Think  of  it  with  a very 
pale,  delicate  yellow.  Now  think  of  it  with 
a rich  handsome  dark  brown.  The  latter 
is  much  more  comfortable.  The  room  be- 
gins to  feel  like  a room  instead  of  a barn. 

Dark  values  tend  to  make  rooms  look 
smaller.  Large  rooms  are  usually  most 
satisfactory  when  dark  or  medium  value 
papers  are  used,  provided  of  course  that 
there  is  plenty  of  light. 

EXERCISES: 

1.  From  real  papers,  select  one  suitable 
in  hue  and  value  for  a big  south 
room  with  five  big  windows  opening 
directly  south.  There  are  no  trees  or 
p ia  z z a s . The  nearest  neighbor’s 
house  is  across  a good  sized  yard. 

2.  From  real  papers,  select  one  suitable 
in  hue  and  value  for  the  same  room. 
This  time  there  are  big  trees  outside 
the  windows,  and  a glassed-in  porch 
across  three  of  the  windows. 

3.  From  real  papers,  select  one  suitable 
in  hue  and  value  for  a small  north 
room  with  one  window.  Nothing  to 
cut  off  light. 

4.  Another  north  room.  This  time  it 
is  a medium  sized  room  with  four 
windows. 


14 


CHROMA 


Chapter  V 

CHROMA 


OLOR  is  a joy.  We  all  like  it; 
we  all  want  it.  There  is  no 
reason  why  we  should  not  have 
it,  a great  deal  of  it,  if  we  only 
know  how  to  use  it  wisely  to 
get  the  really  satisfying  effects. 

A group  of  girls  is  coming  down  the 
street.  One  has  on  a bright  green  sweater ; 
it  is  very  becoming.  Another  has  on  an 
orange  hat ; still  another,  a purple  scarf, 
What  stands  out  in  the  group?  What 
would  you  see  first? 

The  bright  colors  are  what  greet  the 
eye  instantly.  The  other  colors  may  not 
even  be  noticed.  As  the  girls  come  nearer, 
the  vivid  colors  seem  to  come  even  faster 
than  they  do.  They  first  reach  us  a long  time 
before  the  other  colors! 

The  same  thing  happens  with  colors  in  a 
room.  The  strongest  colors  are  the  ones  that 
we  see  first.  They  come  forward  to  us 
and  insist  upon  our  looking  at  them,  just 
as  did  the  bright  colors  worn  by  the  group 
of  girls.  They  are  the  jewels  that  we 
spoke  of  in  Chapter  1.  Everything  else  is 
the  setting.  Our  friends,  our  pictures,  our 
choice  bits  of  ornament  are  our  jewels.  All 
else  is  the  background  for  them. 

What  does  this  have  to  do  with  the  color 
of  walls?  Does  it  mean  that  we  must  al- 
ways use  very  dull  colors  on  the  walls?  By 
no  means. 

It  does  mean,  however,  that  we  must  al- 
ways keep  a certain  proportion  or  balance 
between  the  brilliancy  of  our  walls  and  the 
brilliancy  of  our  accents.  This  must  be 
such  a proportion  that  the  walls  never  leap 
forward  into  the  foreground  making  us  see 
them  to  the  exclusion  of  the  jewels.  It 
does  not  mean  that  we  cannot  have  bright 
colored  walls.  There  are  many  times  when 
we  want  our  walls  bright,  gay  bits  of  dec- 
oration. There  is  absolutely  no  reason  why 
we  should  not  have  them,  provided  they 
are  not  too  bright  for  the  people,  the  pic- 
tures, and  the  ornaments. 

Some  people  wear  black  all  the  time  be- 
cause they  are  afraid  to  use  color.  Yet 


color  is  wonderful  and  beautiful.  It  is 
better  to  learn  to  use  it  right  than  to  turn 
our  backs  on  it  because  we  are  afraid  we 
shall  use  it  wrong. 

If  we  keep  this  rule  of  proportion  of  the 
brilliancy  of  color  clearly  in  mind,  we  can 
have  many  gay  effects  that  will  be  very 
beautiful  and  interesting. 

Of  course,  it  is  possible  to  forget  this 
rule  of  proportion  and  misuse  bright  color 
on  the  walls,  making  our  rooms  awful 
nightmares  of  brilliant,  clashing  color. 
When  the  bright  colors  are  right,  they 
sing  and  they  satisfy  us.  We  can  all  tell 
the  difference. 

Suppose  we  like  red,  and  decide  to  have 
a red  room.  Our  living  room  is  a very 
big  room,  almost  as  large  as  a schoolroom. 
We  put  on  the  walls  a solid,  very  bright- 
red  burlap.  How  is  our  friend  who  has 
auburn  hair  going  to  look  against  it?  How 
is  the  friend  with  the  ruddy  complexion 
who  can  never  wear  red  neckties  going  to 
look  against  it?  How  is  the  friend  with 
light  yellow  hair  going  to  look?  Always 
our  walls  will  be  shouting  Red,  Red,  Red. 
The  background  becomes  the  whole  room, 
with  no  place  for  anything. 

What  could  we  have  done  ? There  are 
in  the  market,  many  beautiful  dull  rich- 
toned  reds,  less  chromatic  than  the  bright 
red  burlap  that  we  have  just  described. 
Usually  they  are  mixed  with  other  colors 
so  that  the  red  is  toned  down  into  a dull 
rich  effect  which  would  give  us  the  feel- 
ing of  having  a red  room  without  noisily 
shouting  red  to  everybody  who  came  to 
see  us.  There  are  also  many  papers  that 
have  dull  rich  red  in  the  pattern.  These 
would  have  had  the  same  effect.  We 
would  have  a red  room  and  at  the  same 
time,  one  in  which  our  friends  would  have 
looked  well.  The  dull-toned  background 
would  have  offered  a contrast  for  the 
brighter  auburn  hair,  and  made  the  hair 
look  beautiful  instead  of  ugly.  The  bril- 
liant notes  of  brighter  red  could  have  been 
added  in  the  hangings,  the  upholstery,  the 


CHROMA 


15 


Back  P/&Z.Z& 


FIGURE  9-A 


CHR O M A 


m in 

FIGURE  9-B 


17 


CHROMA 


lampshades,  the  table  runners,  the  orna- 
ments. The  result  would  have  been  a 
handsome,  rich,  satisfying  room. 

Let  us  remember  first  of  all,  the  limit  of 
chromatic  strength  of  any  background  is  its 
ability  to  stay  back  as  background  for  the 
people  and  the  other  accents  in  the  room. 

One  more  point  about  how  to  use  chroma 
successfully.  The  gay  colors  worn  by  the 
girls  seemed  to  come  toward  us  faster  than 
the  dull  colors.  That  is  something  that 
always  happens  with  very  bright  colors. 
They  never  seem  to  be  fading  away  from 
us ; they  are  always  coming  toward  us. 

Think  for  a moment.  See  what  this 
means  when  bright  colors  are  used  in  a 
room.  A very  tiny  hall  bedroom  has  on 
its  walls  a very  chromatic  pink  paper.  The 
walls  look  as  though  they  were  coming 
right  toward  us.  What  effect  does  it  have 
on  the  size  of  the  room  ? Makes  it  look 
smaller. 

Now  we  have  another  rule  about  using 
chromatic  papers.  Very  chromatic  papers 
make  rooms  look  small.  Therefore,  ordin- 
arily we  do  not  use  chromatic  papers  in 
small  rooms.  We  use  unchromatic  papers 
which  will  help  send  the  walls  back  instead 
of  bringing  them  fonvard.  We  like  to 
make  the  rooms  look  as  large  as  possible. 

There  is  one  more  rule  that  is  a close 
companion  to  this  one.  Sometimes  rooms 
are  very  large,  so  large  that  they  are  al- 
most barn-like.  The  opposite  walls  seem 


to  be  miles  and  miles  away.  To  make  such 
rooms  attractive  and  homelike,  we  have  al- 
ready learned  one  rule ; we  can  use  a fairly 
dark  value.  Now  we  have  an  additional 
way ; we  can  draw  the  walls  together,  make 
the  room  look  smaller  by  using  a chromatic 
paper.  Strength  of  chroma  and  a medium 
value  will  make  such  a room  very  beautiful 
and  attractive. 

EXERCISES: 

1.  Start  a set  of  sheets  showing  selec- 
tions of  papers  for  the  four-room 
apartment  as  given  in  Figure  9a. 

a.  Sheet  1.  Copy  plan  of  apart- 

ment. Figure  9a. 

b.  Sheet  2.  Select  and  mount 

sample  of  wall-paper 
suitable  for  living 
room.  On  side  of 
sample  print  reasons 
for  your  selection. 

c.  Sheet  3.  Select  and  mount 

sample  of  wall-paper 
suitable  for  the  din- 
ing room.  Print  as 
preceding  sheet. 

d.  Sheet  4.  Select  and  mount 

sample  of  wall-paper 
suitable  for  the  bed- 
room. 

e.  Sheet  5.  Sleet  and  mount 

sample  of  wall-paper 
suitable  for  the  hall. 


18 


PA TTERN 


Chapter  VI 

PATTERN 


HE  store  windows  would  be  sad- 
ly unattractive  without  their 
fascinating  spots  of  pattern. 
Dress  goods,  draperies,  rugs, 
carpets,  wall-papers  — what  a 
plain  and  drab  kind  of  world  it  would  be 
if  all  these  were  plain.  We  should  be  in- 
venting some  trimming  or  ornament  for 
the  dress,  some  decoration  for  the  sofa 
cushion  and  table  runners,  putting  bands 
of  color  on  the  draperies  before  we  knew 
it.  Why?  Because  we  do  not  want  to 
see  the  same  kind  of  thing  all  the  time, 
we  like  change  and  variety;  decoration 
gives  it  to  us. 

When  decoration  is  repeated  regularly 
over  a whole  surface,  it  is  called  a pattern. 
Dress  goods,  shirting,  neckties,  rugs, 
linoleums,  wall-papers,  all  have  decoration 
of  this  kind. 

There  are  as  many  kinds  of  patterns  as 
there  are  uses  for  materials.  A design  for 
linoleum  is  a very  stiff  regular  pattern, 
suggesting  tiles.  We  walk  on  it.  Who 
would  want  to  see  that  same  design  in  the 
swaying  folds  of  a silk  dress?  Bright 
plaids  are  very  nice  in  a skirt,  but  who 
would  like  to  see  a bright  yellow,  red,  and 
green  plaid  wall-paper  staring  from  the 
wall?  A tiny  patch  of  shirting  shows  at 
the  neck  above  the  vest.  It  may  be  a 
vigorous  stripe.  How  would  you  like  to 
have  it  spread  out  in  a linoleum  on  the 
kitchen  floor  and  walk  on  it?  Every 
pattern  has  to  be  chosen  to  look  well  un- 
der the  conditions  where  it  is  to  be  seen. 

Think  for  a moment  of  dress-goods. 
What  effect  do  we  want?  What  kind  of 
a pattern  will  serve  best?  It  must  not  be 
too  conspicuous ; we  cannot  very  well  use 
one  that  is  so  striking  that  people  will  see 
the  dress  before  they  see  our  faces.  More- 
over, we  want  a figure  in  the  pattern  that 
will  look  well  in  folds.  Folds  make  little 


lines  of  dark  shadow  in  which  both  pat- 
tern and  color  are  partly  lost.  A very  del- 
icate line  effect  is  lost  entirely  in  the 
shadow.  Many  of  us  find  it  hard  to  see 
how  the  dress  will  look  as  the  cloth  lies 
flat  on  the  counter.  The  test  is  to  hold 
it  up  in  folds. 

The  same  thing  is  true  of  curtain  ma- 
terial. We  always  see  them  hanging  in 
folds,  usually  very  deep  ones.  Neat  little 
designs  are  lost.  Your  eyes  start  to  fol- 
low the  lines  of  the  design  and — presto, 
they  disappear  in  the  shadow.  The  next 
line,  on  the  top  of  the  fold,  is  unconnected 
with  anything  else,  and  is  lost.  Such  a 
drapery  pattern  is  characterless,  nonde- 
script. The  blotchy  effects  in  cretonnes  and 
chintzes  are  much  better.  You  see  masses  of 
color,  some  in  shadow,  some  in  the  light. 
They  run  into  each  other  and  blend  into  a 
jolly  riot  of  interesting  color,  giving  a solid, 
handsome  effect. 

But  think  of  the  same  chintz  or  dress- 
goods  design  spread  out  flat  on  the  wall 
and  repeated  over  and  over  again.  Here  is 
a big  handsome  spot  of  color,  long  waving 
lines.  While  you  look  at  one  spot,  the 
next  one  is  shouting  for  attention.  You 
would  be  constantly  seeing  more  and  more 
out  of  the  corner  of  your  eye  and  turning  to 
and  fro  in  endless  confusion.  A nerve  rack- 
ing performance  even  in  the  suggestion.  The 
small  piece  of  drapery  which  was  so  rich 
and  handsome  with  its  deep  folds  would 
become  a nightmare.  The  figures  would 
stand  and  stare  without  a single  apologetic 
blink. 

Walls  need  a particular  kind  of  pattern. 
They  stretch  out  big  and  flat.  The  pat- 
tern should  be  something  that  helps  us  to 
look  easily  from  place  to  place  on  this  big 
surface;  that  makes  an  easy  movement 
from  spot  to  spot.  There  should  be  no 
awkward  pauses  or  gaps;  no  quick  jerking 


PA  TTE  RN 


19 


of  the  eyes  in  unexpected  directions.  A 
smooth  flow  of  line  and  color  in  perfect  ac- 
cord with  each  other  and  with  the  flat  sur- 
face of  the  wall  are  what  our  comfort  and 
deasure  demand.  Unpleasant  holes  that  we 
have  to  leap  over  are  as  bad  as  the  too 
strong  blotches  of  color.  They,  too,  de- 
stroy the  nice  flat  feeling  of  the  wall.  The 
surface  stretches  out,  perfectly  flat  and 
plain.  So  must  the  pattern  carry  our  eyes. 
All  of  its  parts  must  fit  together,  give 
a pleasant,  continuous  movement,  not  too 
strong  and  marked,  and  keep  always  the 
flat  feeling  of  the  wall  surface.  Then 
we  have  the  right  kind  of  pattern  for  the 
wall.  Figures  10  and  11  show  good  ex- 
amples of  this  easy,  consistent  movement. 


It  makes  no  difference  whether  the  unit 
of  design  be  landscape,  trees,  houses,  con- 
ventional figures,  flowers  or  birds.  It  may 
be  anything  and  be  beautiful,  provided  only 
that  when  it  is  spread  out  flat  on  that  wall 
our  eyes  move  easily  from  spot  to  spot  and 
the  figure  is  restful  and  comfortable  to 
look  at  as  it  extends  over  the  large  sur- 
face. 

EXERCISE: 

Select  six  samples  of  paper  which 
are  particularly  good  patterns.  Work 
with  large  pieces  of  paper.  Small 
pieces  give  no  idea  of  how  patterns 
will  look  repeated  over  a large  sur- 
face. Think  always  of  the  big  sur- 
face and  judge  the  paper  when  it  is 


FIG.  10  FIG.  11 

“All  the  parts  must  fit  together,  give  a pleasant,  continuous  movement.”  In  both  of  the 
figures  above  it  is  very  easy  to  look  from  spot  to  spot.  All  the  lines  of  direction 
have  one  general  tendency.  They  go  up  and  slightly  outward. 


20 


PA  TTER  N 


held  in  a vertical  position  some  dis- 
tance from  you,  as  it  would  be  on  the 
walls  in  a room. 

Note  to  teachers : For  this  exercise  divide  the 
class  into  groups.  Have 
each  group  select  their 
large  samples.  Then  have 
whole  class  select  best  ones 
from  these.  Post  best  ones 
on  the  bulletin  board  for 
at  least  a week  as  a test  of 
how  the  patterns  wear  from 
day  to  day. 

Papers  with  patterns  and  plain  papers 
are  equally  good  to  use.  The  difference 
is  simply  one  of  interest.  Potato  is  a 
good  vegetable,  but  most  of  us  prefer  to 
use  pepper  and  salt  with  it.  It  is  more 
interesting.  Patterns  in  papers,  draperies, 
dress-goods  are  just  such  seasoning.  On 
the  other  hand,  sometimes  we  get  too  much 
pepper  and  salt  into  our  potato.  So  we 
may  get  too  much  pattern.  Some  plain 
spaces,  whether  it  be  dress-goods  or  walls, 
are  a relief.  We  do  not  want  all  of  one 
kind,  either  pattern  or  plain.  Either  one 
done  to  excess  grows  tiresome. 

Halls  lend  themselves  admirably  to  the 
use  of  patterned  papers.  Usually  there  are 
rather  large  wall  spaces  which  go  on  and 
up  onto  the  next  floor.  Patterns  break 
up  these  spaces  and  vary  the  monotony. 

Living  rooms  offer  a different  problem. 
That  is  the  one  room  that  has  a varied 
collection  of  things  in  it  because  it  is  the 
room  where  the  whole  family  gathers.  The 
different  members  of  the  family  are  apt  to 
have  very  diverse  tastes.  Each  one  likes 
to  have  some  of  his  things  in  the  living 
room.  So  this  room,  more  than  any  other, 
becomes  a collecting  spot  for  objects  that 
bear  little  relation  to  one  another.  There 
is  great  variety  in  the  room,  many  things 
to  look  at.  We  do  not  need  to  provide 
further  entertainment  by  having  a pattern 
on  the  wall.  It  may  make  a little  too  much 
seasoning.  Therefore,  in  living  rooms,  we 
often  find  that  plain  papers  make  the  most 
satisfactory  backgrounds. 

The  dining  room  is  a place  in  which  we 
do  not  stay  for  any  length  of  time.  While 
there,  we  are  expected  to  be  gay  and  chatty 
and  sociable.  A gayly  patterned  paper  is 
surely  more  entertaining  than  a quiet,  plain 
paper.  That  is  why  so  many  people  of 
good  taste  like  to  have  the  gay  patterns  in 


the  dining  rooms.  If  they  do  not  use  a 
pattern,  they  often  substitute  a very  bright 
colored  plain  paper,  getting  the  jolly  effect 
with  the  brilliancy  of  color. 

The  following  tables  suggest  combina- 
tions of  plain  and  patterned  papers  which 
make  pleasant  rooms  in  which  to  live. 

Choice  one  ; Choice  two 
Hall  Pattern  paper  Pattern  paper 

Living  room  Plain  paper  Plain  paper 

Dining  room  Pattern  paper  Plain  paper 
Some  papers  have  patterns  which  in  them- 
selves are  all  the  decoration  that  the  walls 
need.  To  try  to  hang  pictures  over  them  is 
foolish ; it  is  like  hanging  pictures  on  top  of 
pictures.  These  are  the  kinds  of  papers  that 
are  especially  good  for  halls  and  dining 
rooms,  places  where  we  do  not  care  to  hang 
many  pictures.  There  are  many  other  pat- 
erns  over  which  pictures  may  be  hung  to  ex- 
cellent advantage.  Often  they  will  look 
better  against  a dull  toned  pattern  than 
against  a perfectly  plain  wall.  It  is  not  a 
question  of  pattern  or  no  pattern ; it  is  a 
question  of  how  much  the  pattern  figure  it- 
self stands  out  from  the  background  of  the 
paper.  If  the  contrast  in  value  is  very 
great,  the  figures  will  be  very  striking,  too 
much  so  to  hang  a picture  over.  If  the 
value  contrast  is  low,  the  figures  will  be 
subdued  and  probably  the  pictures  will  look 
well.  Sometimes  there  is  too  strong  a 
movement  in  the  paper  to  use  pictures. 
The  test  is  this:  when  you  put  the  picture 
against  the  paper  which  do  you  see  first, 
the  picture  or  the  paper?  If  you  see  the 
picture  easily  and  the  paper  sinks  comfort- 
ably into  the  background,  you  may  be  sure 
that  that  pattern  is  making  a good  back- 
ground for  your  picture.  If  the  pattern 
stands  out  and  your  eyes  travel  first  to  the 
pattern  and  then  back  to  the  picture,  you 
may  be  sure  that  the  pattern  is  too  strong  a 
decoration  to  have  any  thing  hung  over  it. 
The  answer  is  always  try  the  picture  and 
find  out. 

1.  Experiment  with  pictures  against  wall- 
paper samples.  Select  six  which  will 
serve  as  good  backgrounds  for  pictures. 
Select  six  that  are  sufficent  decoration 
in  themselves  and  do  not  need  pictures. 

2.  Select  papers  for  the  apartment  in  Fig- 

ure 9b.  Mount  on  sheets  and  print 
reasons  for  choice  as  in  exercise  in 
preceding  chapter. 


WOOD  WORK 


21 


Chapter  VII 

WOODWORK 


HE  old  apartment  is  a long  way 
from  Father’s  new  place  of 
business.  Moving  has  become 
necessary.  You  go  with  your 
Mother  to  hunt  for  an  apart- 
ment in  the  new  location  and  find  exactly 
what  will  fit  the  family  needs.  The  land- 
lord says  that  he  will  re-paper  two  of  the 
rooms  right  away  but  he  will  do  nothing  to 
the  woodwork  as  that  was  done  over  for  the 
last  tenant.  How  will  it  look  with  your 
furnishings?  Very  well,  if  the  walls  are 
the  right  color.  The  problem  immediately 
presents  itself  of  selecting  papers  that  will 
look  well  with  both  the  woodwork  and  the 
furnishings,  something  that  will  pull  the 
two  together,  make  them  fit  each  other. 

We  know  that  the  walls,  the  floors,  and 
the  ceiling  make  the  big  background  colors 
for  all  the  rest  of  the  furnishings.  Pic- 
tures and  ornaments  are  the  things  that 
may  be  sparkling  bits  of  color  without  hav- 
ing the  room  become  noisy  and  tiresome. 

What  part  does  the  woodwork  play?  Is 
it  background  or  accent?  Background, 
without  question.  Why  should  woodwork 
stand  out  prominently  in  a room?  It  is  a 
minor  character  in  the  play.  It  is  first,  last 
and  always  part  of  the  setting  for  the  more 
important  things.  Let  us  keep  that  point 
very  clearly  in  mind. 

Complete  subordination  would  mean 
having  it  blend  into  the  paper  so  that  it 
would  never  even  be  noticed.  Between  this 
and  the  too  conspicuous  stage,  there  are 
manv  degrees  of  possible  accent.  How 
much  attention  do  we  wish  it  to  have? 
That  depends  upon  how  beautiful  it  is. 
Suppose  the  house  has  a great  deal  of  beau- 
tifully paneled  old  woodwork.  Each 
panel  is  very  handsome  in  shape  and  propor- 
tion. In  such  a case,  we  should  be  glad  to 
have  the  woodwork  stand  out  a little  from 
the  wall  background.  It  would  be  one  of 
the  most  beautiful  things  in  the  room.  We 


would  want  to  accent  it.  Just  how  mucli 
we  would  accent  it  depends  upon  what  all 
the  other  accents  in  the  room  are.  Remem- 
ber what  we  learned  in  Chapter  1.  Every 
accent  has  its  place  and  turn.  We  must  not 
let  the  woodwork  get  out  of  its  place.  We 
must  keep  it  in  tune  with  all  the  other  ac- 
cents in  the  room. 

Few  of  us  have  this  kind  of  woodwork. 
Therefore,  the  general  rule  is  to  keep  the 
woodwork  very  inconspicuous.  We  do  this 
with  our  choice  of  color. 

If  we  put  black  and  white  together,  we 
get  a very  sharp  contrast.  Both  stand  out 
prominently.  Think  of  a black  dress  with 
white  stripes.  If  we  put  two  medium  greys 
together,  there  is  little  contrast.  Think  of 
a grey  suit  with  a lighter  grey  waist. 
Neither  one  stands  out  prominently.  This 
is  the  effect  that  we  are  searching  for  with 
our  woodwork  and  paper.  Translate  these 
values  into  woodwork  and  paper.  White, 
cream,  light  grey,  buff,  grey  green  wood- 
work are  all  light  in  value.  We  wish  to 
keep  the  woodwork  inconspicuous.  Use  a 
similiar  light  value  for  the  paper.  Grey, 
buff,  yellow,  light  blue,  light  green,  light 
pink,  light  lavender  would  be  the  things  to 
use.  Mahogany,  gum,  oak,  cypress,  and 
pine  are  all  medium  or  dark  value  wood- 
work. Treat  them  in  the  same  way. 
Avoid  contrasting  values,  that  is,  very  light 
values.  Use  medium  or  dark  papers.  Ma- 
hogany is  the  darkest  tone ; to  keep  it  incon- 
spicuous, use  a dark  paper  with  it.  Oak 
may  be  medium  or  dark  according  to  its  fin- 
ish. Select  the  paper  to  approximate  what- 
ever its  value  may  be.  Dark  browns,  dark 
greys,  blues,  dull  red,  and  green  are  all 
good  to  use  with  these  woods.  Avoid  deli- 
cate pale  greys  with  dark  oak  or  mahogany. 
They  make  too  much  contrast  for  ordinary 
use. 

Value  contrasts  give  us  only  one  half  of 
the  story.  We  can  produce  all  Finds  of 


WOODWORK 


22 


effects  by  changing  the  hues  also.  Colors  are 
something  like  people.  They  adapt  them- 
selves to  their  surroundings.  Blue  in  an 
orange  environment  looks  very  different 
than  when  it  is  with  a great  deal  more 
blue.  Put  a great  deal  of  bright  orange 
with  it  and  see  how  bright  and  blue  it 
looks.  It  will  not  look  that  way  against  a 
blue  background.  Try  this  blue  paper 
against  a woodwork  that  has  a good  deal  of 
orange  in  it  like  golden  oak.  Both  of  them 
stand  out  and  look  much  more  brilliant 
than  before.  They  do  not  blend  at  all. 
Each  stands  out  sharp  and  distinct.  We 
are  trying  to  find  a way  of  making  our 
woodwork  inconspicuous.  Evidently  we 
cannot  use  blue  and  orange  together  to  get 
what  we  wish.  Try  a brown  paper  with 
that  same  woodwork.  Let  it  be  a brown 
that  has  a good  deal  of  the  orange  quality 
in  it.  The  woodwork  fades  immediately 
and  very  effectively.  It  drops  into  the  back- 
ground where  we  want  it. 

Blue  and  orange  are  complementary 
colors.  There  are  some  colors  which,  when 
mixed  together,  make  white  light,  or  in  the 
case  of  pigments  a neutral  grey.  They  com- 
plement or  supplement  each  other.  These 
colors  are  called  complementary  colors.  To 
get  exact  complements  requires  very  careful 
testing  and  measurement  just  as  to  get 
angles  that  are  complements  of  each  other 
to  equal  a 90  degree  angle  would  require 
careful  measurement.  But  for  all  our  prac- 
tical uses  in  furnishing  rooms,  it  is  suffi- 
cient to  know  that  the  complements  of  some 
of  our  color  families  will  always  be  found 
somewhere  in  the  range  of  certain  other 
color  families.  For  example,  the  comple- 
ment of  a particular  blue  will  always  be 
found  somewhere  in  the  orange  family. 
The  complement  of  a particular  red  will  al- 
ways be  found  somewhere  in  the  green 
family.  The  complement  of  a particular 
yellow  will  always  be  found  somewhere  in 
the  purple  family.  Blue  and  orange,  red 
and  green,  yellow  and  purple  are  the  fam- 
ilies which  pair  off  in  this  fashion.  If  we 
wish  to  accent  blue,  we  will  put  orange 
with  it.  If  we  wish  to  accent  green,  we 
will  put  red  with  it.  If  we  wish  to  accent 
yellow,  we  will  put  purple  with  it.  Now 
we  have  the  whole  story;  let  us  see  just  how 


it  will  work  with  our  woodwork  and 
papers. 

To  use  a paper  of  the  complementary 
color  of  the  woodwork,  is  to  make  the 
woodwork  stand  out  prominently,  some- 
thing that  we  have  agreed  we  seldom  wish 
to  do.  A paper  of  the  same  general  color 
of  the  woodwork  makes  the  latter  incon- 
spicuous. That  is  what  we  are  looking  for. 

Natural  pine  woodwork  is  a light  yel- 
low brown,  very  chromatic.  We  wish  to 
subdue  it.  We  know  of  two  ways  to  do  it 
now.  First  of  all,  there  is  the  value.  A 
paper  that  is  about  the  same  value  will  help. 
That  will  keep  the  value  contrast  down.  In 
the  second  place,  there  is  the  hue.  A paper 
that  is  approximately  the  same  hue  will 
dull  the  color  of  the  wood.  That  elim- 
inates the  hue  contrast.  Then  the  wood- 
work and  the  paper  will  blend  into  each 
other  beautifully. 

Cypress,  gum,  and  oak  are  all  brown  of 
various  kinds,  some  orange  in  quality,  some 
grey,  some  green.  The  papers  should  be 
selected  to  blend  with  them  according  to 
the  color  that  they  show. 

Mahogany  gives  us  a great  many  differ- 
ent tones  of  red,  some  light  and  some  very 
dark.  It  is  harder  to  handle  than  the 
browns  because  red  paper  with  red  wood- 
work in  a room  would  be  unbearable.  It 
would  be  too  strong,  too  chromatic.  There 
are  two  things  we  can  do  with  mahogany 
woodwork.  The  first  is  to  select  a dark 
value  paper;  if  grey,  let  it  have  a good 
deal  of  red  in  the  pattern.  The  other  is 
to  use  a reddish  brown  paper  of  about  the 
same  value.  Both  will  make  the  woodwork 
inconspicuous. 

Gum  wood  is  a greyish  brown.  Warm 
grey  papers  are  beautiful  with  it.  More- 
over, the  wood  is  so  soft  in  color  that  the 
complementary  color,  blue,  can  be  used  suc- 
cessfully with  it.  Blues  and  blue  greens  are 
both  very  beautiful  with  gumwood. 

If  a slight  accent  is  desired,  a paper 
slightly  toned  with  the  complementary  color 
will  give  it.  This  color  may  be  in  the  pat- 
tern, or  the  paper  may  be  an  unchromatic 
tone  of  the  complementary  color.  For  ex- 
ample, with  dull  dark  oak  woodwork,  a 
dull  blue  paper  may  be  very  beautiful.  A 
paper  with  tan  background,  brown  figure 


WOOD  WORK 


23 


and  blue  accents  would  be  very  handsome. 
This  is  very  different  from  putting  bright 
chromatic  blue  with  bright  orange  brown 
cypress  wood.  Both  of  the  tones  in  the  oak 
room  are  dull  and  rich.  They  can  stand  a 
little  emphasis  by  hue  contrast  where  the 
bright  chromatic  tones  of  the  cypress  and 
blue  would  simply  shriek.  In  the  case  of 
the  oak,  it  only  serves  to  get  the  richness 
of  effect. 


EXERCISE: 

1 . Select  papers  to  go  with  woodwork 
samples.  Select  for  as  many  kinds  of 
wood  as  can  be  obtained.  Work  to 
subdue  the  effect  of  the  wood. 

2.  Select  papers  for  the  same  wood 
samples  trying  to  get  slight  accents. 

Note  to  the  teacher : If  woodwork  samples  are 
not  available,  use  show 
card  colors  and  shellac  to 
approximate  paint  colors. 
Use  plenty  of  body  color 
to  get  the  right  surface. 


24 


LINE  IN  CURTAINS 


Chapter  VIII 

LINE  IN  CURTAINS 


HY  do  we  have  curtains?  First 
of  all,  they  make  a room  look 
attractive.  No  matter  how  care- 
fully the  wall-paper  has  been 
selected,  no  matter  how  well  the 
accents  in  the  room  have  been  chosen,  nor 
how  beautiful  the  furniture,  the  room  looks 
bare  and  unfinished  without  curtains.  In 
the  second  place,  curtains  are  a protection. 
We  need  the  light  in  a room.  We  cannot 
always  pull  down  the  shades  to  prevent  our 
neighbors  from  looking  in.  Curtains  fill 
this  need ; they  let  in  the  light,  giving  us 
protection  at  the  same  time.  The  third 
reason  for  using  curtains  is  not  for  our  per- 
sonal feelings,  but  for  the  people  who  pass 
by  our  house.  Did  you  ever  notice  as  you 
passed  an  unoccupied  house,  what  black 
ugly  holes  the  windows  made?  Curtains 
prevent  this  feeling  of  emptiness  and  make 
the  house  look  lived  in. 

W e have  said  that  rooms  without  cur- 
tains of  any  kind  usually  look  very  bare  and 
barn  like ; that  curtains  make  rooms  look 
finished.  They  are  like  the  trimming  on  a 
dress.  The  dress  may  fit  beautifully;  the 
material  may  be  very  handsome  but  we  are 
not  quite  satisfied  until  there  is  a little 
touch  of  accent.  It  may  be  only  a bright 
bit  of  color  at  the  neck  but  that  little 
touch  of  brightness  is  quite  necessary  to 
take  away  the  raw  unfinished  look.  In  just 
the  same  way  the  woodwork  around  the 
windows  looks  bare  and  hard.  We  feel 
the  need  of  a bit  of  trimming  or  the  softness 
of  the  folds  of  net  or  voile  that  a curtain 
gives. 

The  second  very  practical  use,  we  said, 
was  that  of  protection.  Many  of  our 
houses  are  built  right  on  the  street.  Many 
of  them  are  built  so  close  to  our  neighbors’ 
houses  that  they  can  look  right  into  our 
rooms.  In  such  cases,  we  need  some  kind 


of  protection,  and  it  becomes  necessary  to 
hang  curtains  all  the  way  across  the  win- 
dows. Then  we  have  to  choose  curtains 
very  carefully  so  as  to  get  just  as  much 
light  in  the  rooms  as  possible  by  keeping 
the  curtain  material  light  and  thin.  It 
must  still  be  thick  enough  to  prevent  people 
seeing  in. 

The  third  reason  for  using  curtains,  we 
must  be  sure  not  to  forget.  Think  of  the 
vacant  house  with  the  gloomy  black  holes. 
Compare  it-  with  some  nearby  house  where 
people  are  living.  Notice  how  the  white 
muslin  curtains,  the  gay  chintzes  and  the 
bright  colors  make  the  house  look  cheerful. 
The  black  caverns  have  disappeared. 

Curtains  cannot  be  hung  in  any  fashion. 
If  rooms  are  to  be  both  pretty  and  restful, 
the  lines  in  the  curtains  must  be  right.  Did 
you  ever  think  that  you  can  make  a person 
look  in  any  direction  that  you  wish  by 
drawing  lines  in  various  directions?  Let 
as  try  a few  little  experiments  and  see  if 
this  statement  is  true. 

Draw  a horizontal  line ; your  eyes  fol- 
low it.  They  move  in  a horizontal  direc- 
tion. Now  draw  a vertical  line.  You  look 
up  and  down.  It  never  occurred  to  you  to 
look  any  other  way.  Instead  of  lines,  draw 
figures;  they  are  nothing  but  combinations 
of  lines.  See  Figure  12a.  You  find  your- 
self looking  up  and  down,  vertically.  Look 
at  Figure  12b;  you  look  from  left  to  right, 
horizontally.  Figure  12c  makes  you  look 
still  harder  from  left  to  right — horizontal- 
ly. This  is  because  the  horizontal  lines  are 
so  much  longer  in  proportion  than  the  ver- 
tical lines.  It  is  very  simple.  It  is  im- 
possible to  avoid  looking  in  the  direction  of 
the  longest  lines;  the  longer  they  are  in 
proportion  to  the  short  ones,  the  easier  it 
is  to  look  in  that  direction. 


LINE  IN  CURTAINS 


25 


■u  re  I 2 


26 


LINE  IN  CURTAINS 


If  we  decorate  a figure,  the  same  thing 
happens.  Suppose  we  decide  to  ornament 
one  of  these  rectangles  with  simple  bands. 
We  can  make  it  beautiful  or  ugly  according 
to  the  way  we  place  it.  Suppose  we  try 
two  ways  of  doing  it,  as  in  Figures  1 2d  and 
12e.  Which  is  more  comfortable  to  look 
at?  Figure  12e,  without  question.  Why? 
Because  the  long  lines  naturally  make  us 
look  toward  the  corners.  The  dots  are 
doing  the  same  thing.  They  emphasize  the 
corners,  too.  Therefore,  both  lines  and 
dots  are  in  harmony  with  the  rectangle. 
On  the  other  hand,  in  Figure  1 2d,  the  dots 
are  making  us  look  somewhere  else.  First 
we  look  toward  the  corners,  then  at  the 
dots.  It  is  very  uncomfortable  to  be  jerked 
around  like  that. 

What  has  all  this  to  do  with  curtains? 
Just  a moment,  and  you  will  see.  Look  at 
Figure  12f.  The  diamond  shape  made  of 
oblique  lines  in  the  center  of  the  rectangle 
is  doing  exactly  the  same  thing  to  your  eyes 
that  the  dots  in  Figure  1 2d  are  doing. 
Suppose  we  make  this  diamond  shape  into 
curtains  and  the  rectangle  into  a window 
frame  as  in  Figure  12g.  It  is  precisely  the 
same  thing  that  we  decided  uncomfortable. 


Your  eyes  are  torn  in  two  directions,  with 
resulting  discomfort.  Figues  12h  and  12i 
are  much  more  comfortable  because  the  in- 
side lines  are  in  harmony  with  the  outside 
lines  of  the  window  frames. 

Loop-back  curtains  are  seldom  satisfac- 
tory. You  can  see  why.  They  are  not  in 
harmony  with  the  lines  of  the  window.  It 
j>  best  in  ordinary  windows  to  let  the  cur- 
tains hang  straight.  Then  the  lines  in  the 
room  are  quiet  and  restful. 

There  is  another  way  in  which  this  same 
principle  applies  to  curtains.  As  you  look 
at  a window,  the  sill  makes  a natural  stop- 
ping place  for  the  eye.  You  look  up  and 
down  until  you  reach  the  sill,  then  you 
look  sharply  across,  horizontally.  Curtains 
should  stop  at  the  sill,  then  all  the  lines  will 
be  in  harmony.  Again,  did  you  ever  think 
how  foolish  it  is  to  carry  them  part  way 
down  the  wall?  Why  should  they  go  be- 
low the  sill  ? The  extra  length  is  of  no  use. 

Let  us  remember  that  if  we  wish  rest- 
ful, comfortable  rooms,  the  lines  in  our  cur- 
tains must  be  in  harmony  with  the  lines  of 
the  window  frame. 


PROPORTION  AND  CURTAINS 


27 


Chapter  IX 

PROPORTION  AND  CURTAINS 


INDOWS  are  made  to  let  in 
sunlight  and  air.  Curtains 
should  not  be  used  to  cut  them 
out;  they  should  give  us  just  as 
much  of  the  glorious  sunshine 
as  we  wish.  Have  you  ever  been  into  a 
room  in  which  the  curtains  were  so  thick 
and  heavy  that  the  windows  looked  all  bun- 
dled up?  The  room  itself  seemed  very 
stuffy. 

It  is  easy  to  plan  the  drapery  so  that 
it  stays  back  at  the  sides  of  the  window. 
If  the  curtains  are  made  fairly  full,  they 
may  be  pulled  to  and  fro  at  will.  When 
protection  is  necessary,  pull  them  across. 
When  light  and  air  are  desired,  pull  them 
back.  Be  sure,  however,  that  the  curtains 
are  made  full  enough  so  that  they  will  not 
look  skimpy  when  they  are  pulled  all  the 
way  across.  A skimpy  curtain  is  just  as  bad 
as  a curtain  that  makes  a room  look  stuffy. 
There  is  a happy  medium  that  we  wish  to 
have.  Keep  the  folds  deep  enough  so  that 
they  make  lines  which  are  echoing  the  lines 
of  the  window  casing,  without  cutting  out 
light  and  air.  Then  our  curtains  will  be  a 
real  addition  to  the  windows,  an  addition 
which  increases  the  pleasant  appearance  of 
the  room. 

Where  to  hang  the  curtains  is  always  a 
question  that  has  to  be  settled  immediately. 
Shall  they  hang  inside  the  window  casing 
or  on  the  outside  edge?  The  window  cas- 
ing itself  gives  us  our  answer.  What  is 
that  casing  there  for?  Was  it  put  there  in 
order  to  make  the  window  work  any  bet- 
ter? Will  the  window  move  up  and  down 
any  more  easily  because  it  is  there?  Does 
it  help  keep  the  rain  and  snow  out?  No. 
It  is  just  for  ornament.  It  makes  a finish 
for  the  window.  If  the  finish  is  already 
there  what  is  the  sense  in  hanging  another 


finish  over  it?  Curtains  hung  over  it 
would  be  trespassing.  They  should  be  hung 
inside  the  casings,  leaving  the  wood  finish 
on  the  outside.  If  you!  look  at  two  win- 
dows, one  where  the  curtain  is  hung  over 
the  casing,  the  other  where  the  curtain  is 
hung  inside,  you  will  find  that  one  makes 
you  feel  uncomfortable ; the  other,  perfectly 
comfortable.  The  one  hung  inside  is  really 
much  pleasenter  to  look  at.  It  makes  the 
whole  room  have  more  character,  look 
sturdier.  The  first  one  gives  a floppy  ef- 
fect. You  feel  the  need  of  the  sturdy  wood 
trim. 

In  Chapter  8,  we  learned  that  we  could 
make  people  look  in  any  direction  that  we 
wished  by  drawing  lines  in  that  direction. 
We  also  learned  that  straight  vertical  lines 
were  better  for  our  drapes  than  the  oblique 
tie-back.  Now  there  are  ways  of  making 
this  straight  effect  very  interesting  and  at- 
tractive. Often  we  use  what  are  called 
valances.  Valances  are  narrow  strips  of 
drapery  material  placed  horizontally  across 
the  top  of  the  window  in  front  of  the  two 
side  curtains.  Let  us  see  how  these  work. 

Look  at  Figures  13a  and  13b.  Which  is 
more  intresting?  In  Figures  13a  the  lines 
go  up  and  down ; everything  is  going  up 
and  down.  You  look  up  and  down.  The 
horizontal  feeling  of  the  window  frame  is 
almost  lost.  In  Figure  13b  the  horizontal 
line  going  across  the  top  (that  is  the  val- 
ance) helps  you  to  feel  the  window  frame; 
it  emphasizes  the  horizontal  line.  The  re- 
sult is  that  all  the  lines  seem  to  be  staying 
in  accord  with  the  lines  of  the  window. 
It  is  easy  to  look  at.  The  valance  is  a 
decided  addition  to  the  appearance  of  the 
window,  because  it  makes  us  look  in  pre- 
cisely the  same  way  that  the  lines  of  the 
window  make  us  look.  It  does  not  over- 


28 


PROPORTION  AND  CURTAINS 


emphasize  one  direction  at  the  expense  of 
the  other;  it  is  in  harmony  with  the  win- 
dow. 

Valances  are  great  fun  to  work  with.  We 
can  make  windows  look  short  or  tall,  thin 
or  fat,  by  changing  the  proportion  of  the 
valances  to  the  window.  We  can  make  tall 
narrow  windows  look  like  windows  of  al- 
most ordinary  proportion  by  making  a deep 
valance.  We  can  make  squatty  nearly 
square  windows  look  quite  a little  taller  by 
making  a valance  very  short.  We  can  work 
all  kinds  of  miracles  with  our  proportions. 

Draw  a window  like  Figure  14,  using 
white  paper.  Make  it  exactly  the  same  Size. 
Cut  out  the  glass  part  and  use  a dark  grey 
background.  Cut  two  strips  of  manilla  pa- 
per for  the  side  curtains.  Make  them  the 
width  you  would  like  to  see  them  hanging 
most  of  the  time.  Now  cut  three  strips  to  fit 
across  the  top  of  the  window  for  valances. 
Make  one  very  short,  one  very  wide,  and 
one  about  medium.  Try  each  one.  Which 
is  the  most  comfortable?  When  it  is  just 


right  you  will  know  it,  it  will  feel  right. 
It  will  not  feel  skimpy  and  short,  it  will 
not  feel  stringy  as  though  you  wanted  to 
cut  off  some  of  the  cloth.  It  will  just  fit. 
Perhaps  none  of  them  feel  exactly  right. 
Pick  out  the  one  that  is  the  best  and  try 
making  it  a little  longer  or  a little  shorter 
until  it  is  just  right.  Do  not  stop  with  one 
or  two  trials.  Keep  on  working.  Make 
twenty  if  necessary.  Work  until  it  feels 
exactly  right  without  any  question. 

There  is  no  standard  length  to  make 
valances.  The  length  varies  with  every 
window  because  it  is  a question  of  propor- 
tion, and  windows  vary  a great  deal  in  their 
proportions.  But  always  it  is  easy  to  de- 
cide how  deep  the  valance  shall  be  on  a 
window  of  ordinary  size,  such  as  the  one 
you  have  been  working  with.  Experiment 
and  find  the  length  where  the  cloth  looks 
neither  skimpy  nor  straggly,  too  short  or 
too  long.  There  is  a size  that  exactly  fits. 
When  it  fits,  it  is  comfortable  to  look  at. 

The  window  in  Figure  15a  is  a high  nar- 


PROPORTION  AND  CURTAINS 


29 


1 4- 


30 


PROPORTION  AND  CURTAINS 


row  window.  We  are  going  to  try  to  make 
it  better.  Make  a drawing  of  it  the  same 
size  on  a piece  of  white  paper.  Cut  the 
side  strips  as  before.  Cut  a strip  for  a 
valance  which  you  think  will  be  right.  Try 
it.  Is  it  too  long?  Is  it  too  short?  Keep 
changing  it,  making  it  longer  or  shorter, 
until  it  feels  right.  Now  look  at  the  win- 
dow. Does  it  look  shorter  than  before  you 
added  the  valance? 

Do  the  same  with  the  short  fat  window 
in  Figure  15b.  Work  until  the  valance 
feels  perfectly  comfortable. 

Sometimes  valances  do  not  run  all  the 
way  across  windows  in  front  of  the  side 
curtains.  Often  they  are  little  pieces  of  cloth 
placed  between  the  side  curtains  of  the 
top  as  in  Figure  16a.  These  have  a still 
different  effect  upon  the  proportion  of  a 
window.  Look  at  both  Figures  16a  and 
16b.  Which  one  looks  taller?  Figure  16b 
looks  taller  because  of  the  number  of  ver- 
tical lines  that  make  you  look  up  and  down. 
Yet  the  two  windows  are  exactly  the  same 


height.  Think  for  a moment  what  a use- 
ful fact  this  is  to  know.  Suppose  your  win- 
dows are  very  short,  nearly  square.  They 
would  look  much  better  if  they  could  be 
made  to  look  taller.  Perhaps  the  valance 
all  the  way  across  does  not  change  the  pro- 
portion sufficiently  to  get  what  you  wish. 
You  can  try  this  new  way.  The  little 
valance  in  between  the  side  curtains  may  be 
just  what  is  needed.  On  the  other  hand, 
suppose  your  windows  are  very  high.  You 
would  not  consider  for  a moment  using 
these  little  valances  between  the  curtains. 
You  know  immediately  that  you  would  only 
make  the  windows  look  much  taller. 

Sometimes  for  protection,  it  is  necessary 
to  have  what  we  call  sash  curtains.  We 
need  the  light,  but  we  also  need  to  have 
the  lower  part  of  the  window  covered. 
Sash  curtains  are  very  ugly  because  they 
divide  the  window  space  exactly  in  half. 
It  is  very  tiresome  to  always  look  at  things 
that  are  divided  exactly  in  half.  It  is  like 
hearing  some  one  play  the  same  note  on  the 


PROPORTION  AND  CURTAINS 


31 


piano  over  and  over  again.  When  we  make 
sizes  different,  they  are  much  more  interest- 
ing to  look  at.  There  is  a way  to  avoid  the 
half  and  half  sash  curtain  and  get  the  same 
practical  results  of  protection  and  light. 
Two  sets  of  sash  curtains  may  be  used,  each 
divided  in  the  center.  Figure  17-c-d  shows 
how  they  may  be  pulled  to  make  different 
effects.  They  are  much  more  pleasant  to 
look  at  than  the  sash  curtain  in  Figure  17a. 

Groups  of  windows  offer  us  the  same 
kind  of  problem  as  the  single  windows.  If 
we  can  get  our  curtains  right  for  the  single 
windows  of  different  proportions,  it  is  easy 
to  do  the  same  thing  for  the  groups.  Fig- 
ures 18  and  19  show  several  suggestions  for 
ways  of  hanging  valances  in  grouped  win- 
dows. 

EXERCISE.  RESULT  SHEETS. 

Make  a set  of  sheets  showing  proportions 


Q. 


of  curtains  for  the  windows  in  the  apart- 
ment given  in  Figure  9b.  All  the  windows 
are  the  proportions  of  those  worked  out  in 
the  trial  exercises  in  this  chapter. 

Sheet  1.  Window  of  ordinary  size.  Copy 
Figure  14.  Cut  and  space  drapes 
carefully.  Mount. 

Sheet  2.  Tall  narrow  window.  Copy 
Figure  15a.  Cut  and  space 
drapes  carefully.  Mount. 

Sheet  3.  Short  window.  Copy  Figure  15b. 

Cut  and  space  drapes  carefully. 
Mount. 

For  all  of  these  problems  use  the  mov- 
able material.  Use  cloth  if  possible ; if  not, 
use  colored  paper.  These  mounts  may  be 
kept  the  same  size  as  the  sheets  in  Chapters 
5 and  6 and  assembled  with  them  in  book- 
let form. 


F; 


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32 


PROPORTION  AND  CURTAINS 


PPOPORTION  AND  CURTAINS 


33 


O 


X 


b 


F»'g.  18 


TTTTr 


L 


SWM 


o 


a 


34 


PROPORTION  AND  CURTAINS 


COLOR  IN  CURTAINS 


35 


Chapter  X 

COLOR  IN  CURTAINS 


YNTHIA  had  aroused  and  was 
looking  around.  Where  was 
she?  Oh,  yes,  she  remembered. 
She  had  arrived  late  last  night 
after  a long,  tiresome  journey 
and  had  tumbled  into  bed  as  quickly  as  pos- 
sible without  half  looking  at  her  surround- 
ings. 

Now  the  sun  was  streaming  into  the 
windows  through  the  soft  yellow  curtains. 
It  flooded  the  room.  It  flickered  gaily  on 
the  yellow  comforter  on  the  foot  of  the 
bed.  The  room  was  alive  with  the  soft 
yellow  light.  The  cool  grey  of  the  walls 
and  the  grey  enamel  furniture  made  a 
beautiful  background  for  it. 

Cynthia  was  delighted  at  the  idea  of 
spending  a week  in  that  lovely  room.  She 
immediately  began  to  look  around  more 
closely.  What  fascinating  little  candle- 
sticks with  the  yellow  shades  over  there 
on  the  dresser.  By  the  window  was  an 
alluring  place!  to  read ; a big  comfortable 
wicker  chair  covered  with  gay  chintz.  On 
the  low  table  beside  the  chair  was  a bowl 
of  beautiful  yellow  marigolds.  Why  was 
this  room  so  charming?  Because  someone 
had  given  a great  deal  of  thought  to  the 
color  scheme.  It  was  not  because  the  fur- 
niture was  expensive  or  the  draperies  of 
costly  fabrics.  The  effect  was  beautiful 
because  everything  had  been  chosen  with 
such  care. 

The  curtains  were  playing  a large  part 
in  this  room.  Curtains  are  one  of  the  best 
possibilities  for  color  accent  in  any  room. 
Their  beauty  depends  upon  the  choice  of 
color  and  pattern  to  go  with  all  the  other 
furnishings. 

Color  in  curtains  gives  us  the  same  kind 
of  problem  that  we  had  with  the  woodwork 
in  Chapter  7.  We  can  make  our  curtains 
stand  out  prominently  in  the  room  or  we 


can  subdue  them.  AIL  we  have  to  do  is 
to  use  the  same  rules  that  we  learned  for 
the  woodwork.  Suppose  we  have  a medium 
value  green  wall-paper  in  a room.  We 
want  our  curtains  to  be  a strong  color  note 
in  the  room.  There  are  two  ways  of  do- 
ing it.  First,  we  may  get  a strong  value 
contrast;  that  means  choosing  a light  value 
in  this  case;  second,  we  may  use  a com- 
plementary color,  red  in  this  case.  Tan  or 
white  would  all  make  our  strong  value  con- 
trast. If  we  choose  a drapery  which  has 
green  figures  with  strong  red  accents  in 
the  pattern,  we  shall  get  our  complementary 
color  contrast.  The  red  in  the  pattern  will 
stand  out  vigorously.  The  light  value  will 
stand  out,  yet  there  will  be  some  feeling 
of  the  green  which  will  help  blend  the 
curtains  and  the  paper.  If  we  make  the 
curtains  solid  red,  the  contrast  would  be 
too  strong.  We  should  be  looking  first  at 
one  and  then  at  the  other.  Our  cretonne 
with  its  small  notes  of  green  pulls  the  two 
together  comfortably  while  emphasizing 
the  curtains  by  the  use  of  the  lighter  value 
and  the  red  accents. 

Strong  contrasts  of  complementary  color 
should  be  avoided  when  papers  of  plain 
color  are  used.  For  example,  blue  and 
brown  go  very  nicely  together  if  used  in 
the  right  relation  and  proportion.  But  a 
solid  blue  paper  with  a solid  brown  drapery 
seldom  makes  an  attractive  room.  They 
are  both  too  pronounced.  Neither  does  a 
solid  brown  paper  with  a solid  blue  hang- 
ing look  well.  The  reason  is  the  same. 
If  the  paper  is  plain  brown,  it  is  better  to 
use  a hanging  that  will  give  a mixture  of 
brown  and  blue  or  of  buff  and  blue.  We 
have  a compromise,  something  to  pull  the 
two  colors  together.  In  the  case  of  the  solid 
blue  wall,  it  is  better  to  choose  a curtain 
which  has  some  blue  grey  or  blue  in  the 
figure  and  a few  brilliant  spots  of  orange. 


36 


COLOR  IN  CURTAINS 


There  may  in  this  case  be  much  brown  in 
the  pattern  with  good  effect. 

Suppose  the  paper  is  grey  with  pink  in 
the  pattern.  We  know  right  away  what 
to  do.  We  can  make  the  curtains  the  same 
kind  of  pink,  possibly  a little  brighter  or 
a little  darker. 

Suppose  our  paper  is  light  yellow  brown. 
Blue  is  the  nearest  to  its  complementary 
color.  A drapery  with  bright  blue  accents 
in  the  pattern  will  give  the  contrast  that 
is  needed  to  make  the  color  effect  interest- 
ing. 

If  you  study  the  paper  carefully,  you  will 
find  that  you  can  always  get  your  clue  to 
the  color  of  the  curtains  from  that,  be- 
cause the  wall-paper  designer  has  already 
done  just  this  kind  of  thinking  for  you  in 
all  the  pattern  papers.  He  has  used  these 
colors  in  the  same  way  to  get  his  accents. 
If  you  want  to  get  accents  in  your  curtains, 
match  the  colored  accents  in  the  paper  ; 
if  you  want  to  keep  your  curtains  subdued, 
match  the  ground  tones  of  the  paper. 

In  using  delicately  colored  papers,  it  is 
well  to  avoid  strong  contrasts  in  the  cur- 
tains. They  will  be  so  strong  that  they 
will  make  the  walls  look  washed  out.  In 
such  a case,  it  is  better  to  match  the  hue 
and  value  quite  closely.  Then  we  keep  the 
delicate  effect  in  the  whole  room. 

Suppose  we  have  a pale  blue  paper  on 
the  wall.  It  has  no  pattern  to  give  us  a 
clue.  There  are  three  things  that  we  can 
do.  We  can  use  a plain  crisp  white  muslin 
curtain  which  gives  us  simple  light  value 
contrast.  We  can  do  the  same  thing  and 
get  a simple  dark  value  contrast  by  using 
a plain  darker  blue  material.  Or  we  can 
do  the  third  thing;  we  can  use  a cretonne 
with  a good  deal  of  blue  in  the  pattern  and 
bright  orange  or  yellow  accents. 

Greys  may  be  warm  or  cool;  they  are 
often  tinged  with  some  color.  In  such 
cases,  it  is  well  to  match  the  curtains  to 
that  particular  tinge  of  color.  A grey 
which  has  a strong  lavender  tone  needs  a 
drapery  with  lavender  and  purples.  A 
grey  which  has  a blue  tone  needs  a drapery 
with  blue  in  it.  Some  greys  are  very  beau- 
tiful with  yellow,  orange,  or  pink. 

In  Chapter  6 we  learned  that  to  have 


everything  plain  was  tiresome;  to  have 
everything  with  a pattern  on  it  was  equally 
tiresome.  We  need  a mixture  of  the  two. 
Before  we  decide  upon  the  pattern  for  our 
drapery  we  need  to  look  around  the  room 
and  see  what  the  other  furnishings  are. 
Have  we  too  much  or  too  little  pattern? 
Suppose  there  is  a plain  brown  rug  on  the 
floor  and  a plain  paper  on  the  wall;  the 
draperies  will  look  best  if  they  have  some 
pattern.  In  another  room,  the  rug  has  a 
large  conspicuous  pattern,  the  paper  is  a 
rich  tapestry  effect.  The  curtains  will  look 
best  if  they  are  kept  plain. 

Ordinarily  it  is  a safe  rule  to  follow  that 
if  the  walls  are  plain,  the  curtains  may 
have  as  vigorous  a pattern  as  is  desired ; 
if  the  walls  have  a distinct  pattern,  then 
the  plain  drape  is  best.  Always  we  are 
trying  to  keep  a certain  proportion  in  the 
room  between  plain  places  aand  decorated 
places.  One  balances  the  other. 

We  have  also  learned  that  some  patterns 
should  be  seen  out  flat  on  a surface  and 
some  should  be  seen  in  folds.  Look  at  the 
drapery  materials  in  folds  always.  You 
may  pass  over  some  exquisite  patterns 
which  would  be  just  the  thing  for  your 
windows  simply  because  they  did  not  look 
well  when  spread  out  flat.  Try  them  in 
folds  before  you  say  they  are  either  ugly 
or  beautiful. 

Last  of  all,  remember  that  curtains  hang 
at  windows  with  the  light  streaming 
through  them,  not  on  them.  To  know  how 
a curtain  is  really  going  to  look,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  hold  it  up  to  the  light  and  let  the 
light  come  through  it.  That  is  our  final 
test. 

EXERCISES: 

With  samples  of  drapery  material 
and  wall-papers,  test  out  several  com- 
binations. 

1.  Pick  out  a grey  paper.  Select  drapery 
for  accent. 

2.  Pick  out  a brown  paper.  Select  two 
drapery  samples,  one  for  value  con- 
trast, one  for  complementary  con- 
trast. 

3.  Pick  out  a figured  paper.  Select  a 
drapery  for  accent. 


The  End 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS-URBANA 


30 


12  072367516 


